F.P. Report
PESHAWAR: Mardan clinched the overall trophy of the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Mardan Region U-23 Inter-District Male Games which concluded at Mardan Sports Complex on Thursday.
Mardan claimed 140 points after securing 14 gold medals out of the total of 15 gold medals of as many disciplines part of the mega event. Mardan secured first position in tug-of-war, hockey, table tennis, badminton, kabaddi, squash, tennis, basketball, gymnastic, athletics, football, judo, karate and wrestling.
Swabi with seven silver medals securing 70 points after taking runners-up trophies in Tug of war, kabaddi, squash, tennis, karate, volleyball, basketball and Malakand got third position with 45 points after winning runners-up trophies in judo, wrestling, athletics and gymnastic. In the athletics Mardan got winner trophy with Shoaib Ahmad declared as best athlete of the Meet. Mardan secured 38 points after winning five gold medals, followed by Malakand Division with 36 points and Swabi with one gold medal took 16 points.
Mubashir Haider was declared as the fastest athlete after winning 100m, followed by Kamran of Malakand with silver and Shoaib Khan of Mardan won bronze medal. In the 400m Rehman of Malakand grabbed gold medal, Swabi’s Mobeen silver and Mardan’s Hazrat Ali grabbed bronze medal. In the 800m Adnan of Mardan won gold medal, Zahoor of Malakand grabbed silver medal, and Murad of Mardan took bronze medal.
In the 4X100m relay Mardan won gold medal, Malakand team grabbed silver medal and Swabi remained at third. In the shot put Sana Ullah of Malakand won gold medal, Adnan of Mardan grabbed silver medal and Abdullah of Malakand got bronze medal. In the long jump Shoaib Khan of Mardan got medal, Imran of Malakand got silver and Basit of Swabi won bronze medal respectively. In the Javelin throw Irfan of Malakand took gold medal, Asif of Mardan grabbed silver medal and Afzal of Swabi won bronze medal.
In the hockey final Mardan and Buner played a nick-n-nick fight for the gold medal with both the team tied 1-1 draw in the stipulated 70 minute time. Muhammad Nouman scored one goal on the field attempt after dodging three defenders in a row. It was a very good move made by the right winger Shehzad who after travelling past two defenders at his pit right position gave a free ball to Nouman who did nothing wrong in dispatching it into the net.
When Mardan took the lead, kept up pressure but failed to intact their lead. It was in the 28th minute when Yasin slammed in a beautiful goal through field attempt. To decide the fate of the match both were awarded five each penalty shoot-out on which Mardan won the battle. In the Karate Mardan secured 135 points, followed by Malakand with 60 points and Swabi got third position with 35 points. In the Kabaddi Mardan defeated Swabi in a thrilling final with both the teams were struggle hard for a single point. Sultan Bacha supervised the final as Mardan defeated Swabi by 35-28 points.
At the end, Director Operation Syed Saqlain Shah, Director Development Salim Raza, AD Sports Zakir, Nimayat Ullah, District Sports Officer Kashif Farhan gave away trophies, certificates and cash prizes. The winner awarded Rs. 20,000 cash prize while the runners-up got Rs. 15000.
