Punjab athletes clinched the Boys and Girls Championship trophies

Lahore: Punjab athletes lived up to their billing and clinched the Boys and Girls Championship trophies on the third and last day of Inter-Provincial Youth Athletics Championship held under the auspices of Sindh Sports Board at PSB’s Coaching Centre Karachi on Saturday.

On the points table, Punjab boys topped the list with 81 points followed by Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KPK) with 38 points. Fata, Islamabad, Balochistan and Sindh were the next in list with 21, 19, 12 and 8 points respectively.

As was expected, Punjab also led the Girls points table with a score of 70. Sindh girls fought well in the competition and managed to annex 54 points but could not surpass the aggregate of Punjab despite their hard efforts. The girls from KPK finished with 43 points while Islamabad athletes failed to open their account.

Punjab boys bagged six gold medals, five silvers and one bronze medal in the three day event while the girls wrapped up the competition with two gold, eight silver and three bronze medals.

On the last day of the championship, the 100m races of boys and girls were decided. M Hassaan Qamar of Punjab was declared winner in the Boys 100m sprint while Kashif Nawaz also of Punjab remained runners up followed by Haris from Fata. The title of Girls 100m went to Hiba Khursheed of Sindh while the next two top positions were taken by Punjab’s Milhan and Khadeeja.

M Hassaan Qamar (2 gold medals, 1 silver) of Punjab and Hiba Khursheed of Sindh (2 gold medals) were adjudged best male and female athletes of the championship. Zahid Rizwi and Shahid, President and Secretary Sindh Athletics Association, were the guests of honour on this occasion.

Director General Sports Board Punjab (SBP) Usman Anwar congratulated the young Punjab athletes for their dominating performance in the Inter-Provincial Youth Athletics Championships. “It’s a team work and all the coaching staff besides the athletes deserved the huge appreciation for this great success. The role of recent Punjab Youth Festival can’t be ruled out in this regard,” he added. “The way our young athletes are achieving success at national level, it shows that our future is bright in athletics and our players will definitely gain success at international level in future,” he predicted.