35th National Games: Defending Champions Pakistan Army Maintain their Dominance, Pile up Medals

Defending champion Pakistan Army maintained its dominance in various sports and piled up medals on Sunday at the ongoing 35th National Games in Karachi. Host Sindh won the first gold medal of the Games by winning the women’s netball event. Olympian gold medalist Arshad Nadeem will be seen in action on Monday.

In the thrilling final of the netball women’s tournament played at the PSB Coaching Center, Sindh won by 20 points to 13 against the strong rival team of WAPDA. In the semi-final, Sindh defeated the Army team. The Army defeated Azad Jammu and Kashmir to win the bronze medal. Sindh Government Sports Secretary Munawar Ali Mahsir distributed the prizes at the prize distribution ceremony.

On this occasion, he said that it is a pleasure for the host team to win the first gold medal in the National Games hosted by Sindh after 18 years. On the occasion of Sindh Day, the winning team presented a good gift to the province.

Pakistan Army won the men’s netball tournament by defeating Pakistan Navy in the final and winning the gold medal. In the men’s individual fencing event, Abdul Masoor gave HEC its first gold medal of the Games. In the men’s style fencing final held at NED University, Yasin from Balochistan, who lost to Abdul Masoor, won the silver medal.

In the semi-finals, Ahmed from Balochistan and Shoaib from Punjab won bronze medals. On the second day of shooting competitions, Pakistan Army won 7 gold medals, Pakistan Navy retained second position with 5 gold medals.

In the 10-meter air pistol women’s event, Rabia Kabir from Navy won gold, Rimsha Nadeem from Army won silver and Rasam Gul from Navy won bronze. In the team event of the same category, Pakistan Navy won gold, Army won silver and HEC won bronze medals.

In the individual competitions of 25-meter rapid pistol, Muhammad Shabbir from Army won gold, GM Bashir from Navy won silver and Maqbool Hussain from Navy won bronze medals. In the team event, Navy won gold, Army won silver and PAF won bronze medals.

In the Skate Olympics, Army’s Imam Haroon won gold, Navy’s Asif Mahmood won silver and Asif Ali won bronze. In the team category, Army won gold, Navy won silver and Sindh won bronze. In shooting, Pakistan Army is at the top of the medal table with 7 gold, 6 silver and 1 bronze medals, while Pakistan Navy is at the second position with 5 gold, 4 silver and 6 bronze medals. PAF is third with 2 silver and 2 bronze medals, Sindh is fourth with 2 bronze medals and HEC is at the fifth position with one bronze medal.

In Taekwondo, Pakistan Army won all 8 events and captured gold medals. In the men’s under-20 individual competition, Syed Zohaib defeated Syed Sohail Abbas of Punjab. In the female event, Zeena Shiraz defeated Sameera Fida of PAF to win.

In the women’s under-30 individual event, Naila defeated Maryam of Punjab, in the under-40 individual event, Mehran-Nissa defeated Hajra Nawab, a sports officer from District Central Karachi representing Sindh, in the under-50 individual event, Sana Sabir defeated Hasina Jamal of Punjab, in the men’s under-30 individual event, Adil Hussain defeated Fahad Ali of Railways, in the under-40 individual event, Muhammad Mumtaz defeated Rafiullah of Balochistan, in the under-50 individual event, Irshad Ali defeated Kashif Saeed of PAF, and the Army won the female under-30 pair event by defeating HEC.

In the Optimist Class Open of the Sailing Championship held in the Arabian Sea, PAF’s Muhammad Saleem won gold, Navy’s Afzaal Haider won silver, PAF’s Tahseen Qazi won bronze. In the Optimist Class Girls, PF’s Tahseen Qazi won gold, KP’s Tehreem Fatima Abbasi won silver, and Sindh’s Tehreem Fatima won bronze.

In the Optimist Racing Mixed event, PAF won gold, Navy won silver, and Sindh won bronze. In the ILCA Four Class Open, PAF won gold, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa won silver, and Sindh won bronze. In the ILCA 6 Class, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa won gold and won gold.

PAF won silver and Pakistan Navy won bronze. In the 470 class juniors, Navy won gold, PAF won silver and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa won bronze. In the RSX class men’s juniors, Navy won gold, Punjab won silver and Azad Jammu and Kashmir won bronze. In the opening match of the softball tournament, Pakistan Police defeated Sindh 7-21.

In the second match, Sindh also faced a defeat by Balochistan by 19–6. Softball Federation of Pakistan President Tehmina Asif was the chief guest at the opening ceremony. In the men’s hockey tournament at the KHA Hockey Complex, Sindh defeated Khyber Pakhtunkhwa 1-3, Pakistan Navy defeated Punjab 1-2, and Pakistan Army defeated Pakistan Police 1-5. In the women’s hockey tournament, WAPDA defeated Balochistan by 18 goals, while Pakistan Army defeated Sindh in the men’s basketball event.

In the women’s football tournament, Pakistan Army defeated Khyber Pakhtunkhwa by 23 goals. The match between Sindh and WAPDA was tied at 1-1. In the men’s football tournament, Pakistan Army defeated Sindh by one goal and made it to the semi-finals.

Men’s and women’s boxing competitions began at the PT Sports Complex, table tennis competitions began at the Islamia Club, athletics competitions at the National Games will begin on Monday at PNS Karsaz.

On the first day itself, the fastest male and female athletes of the Games will be decided in the 100-meter finals. Olympian Arshad Nadeem, a gold medalist who made history by setting a record at the Paris Olympics 2024, will participate in the javelin throw competition.