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Friday March 29, 2024

Pakistan win 4X400 metre relay gold

By our correspondents
September 21, 2017

ASHGABAT, Turkmenistan: Pakistan won 4X400 metre relay gold medal to end their athletics journey at the 5th Asian Indoor and Martial Arts Games in style here at the Olympic Complex on Wednesday.

Pakistan’s crew, carrying Olympian Mehboob Ali, his brother Nokar Hussain, Nishat Ali and Asad Iqbal, made a brilliant effort by clocking 3:11.40 to clinch the gold medal.

Qatar claimed silver with a timing of 3:12.58, while Thailand grabbed bronze with a timing of 3:21.21. Pakistan finished at the top with a timing of 3:14.09 in their heat, ahead of Thailand, Turkmenistan, Kazakhstan and Tajikistan. Thailand also qualified for the final by clocking 3:14.19 and Turkmenistan with 3:19.01.

Qatar (3:21.38) and China (3:21.97) and Vanuatu (3:28.52) qualified for the final from the second heat which also carried Jordon and Saudi Arabia. Pakistan’s coach Hasnain was extremely happy. “I am ecstatic over the success,” he told ‘The News’.

In women’s shot-put final, Pakistan’s Zeenat Parveen finished at seventh place with a personal best effort of 12.34.

As many as 11 athletes were part of the final. China’s Bian Ka got gold with 17.34, Uzbekistan’s Elena Smolyanova claimed silver with 15.60, while Thailand’s Areerat Intadis captured bronze with 15.60.In men’s triple jump final, Pakistan’s Mohammad Afzal, an Asian Youth Championship gold medallist, finished ninth out of 13 athletes with 14.73.

India’s Arpinder Singh got gold with 16.21, Pratchaya Tepparah of Thailand secured silver with 16.12 and Qatar’s Al Mannai claimed bronze with 15.99.Pakistan had fielded 11 athletes in the competitions. Maria Maratab ended eighth out of ten athletes in women’s triple jump final by recording 11.52 metres. The gold medal went to Kazakhstan’s Olga Rypakova with a timing of 14.32, while Maria Ovchinnikova of Kazakhstan (13.21) and Qiujiao Tan (13.10) of China claimed silver and bronze medals, respectively.

Maria had also fallen in the 60m hurdles final on Monday when she ended seventh out of eight athletes with 9.33 seconds timing. Olympian Najma Parveen also failed to impress when she ended sixth out of eight in women’s 60m first round heat. She clocked 8.11 seconds of timing.

Sprinter Mohammad Shehbaz exited the 60m sprint when he finished fifth out of eight athletes in his semi-final out of which three had to qualify for the final. Shehbaz’ timing was 7.05 seconds. Shehbaz had qualified for the semi-finals when he finished third with a timing of 7.03 out of seven athletes.

Olympian Mehboob Ali had been disqualified in his favourite event of 400m where he finished at the top in both the semi-finals with a timing of 47.73 seconds but he had to pack for making a foul in the race.

Nokar Hussain also failed to qualify for the final when he finished fourth out of six athletes in the 400m first semi-final with a timing of 48.77. Nokar had moved into the semi-final with a timing of 48.40.

In women’s 400m semi-finals, Olympian Najma failed to impress as she finished at the last position by clocking 59.74. She had qualified for the semi-finals as the best loser in the initial round with a timing of 59.70.

Maria Maratab ended seventh in women’s 60m hurdles final with a timing of 9.33. Eight athletes took part in the final. She had recorded 9.32 to qualify for the finals.Olympian Rabia Ashiq failed to qualify for the next round in both 400m and 800m races.

In 400m, Rabia, who was part of Pakistan’s squad in 2012 London Olympics, ended 15th out of 16 competitors. She clocked 1:08.57. Rabia narrowly missed the 800m finals as she finished seventh out of 11 athletes. Her timing was 2:20.87.

Experienced hurdler Mohsin Ali also failed to impress in 60m hurdles as he finished ninth out of 16 competitors who featured in two heats. His timing was 8.03.