By: Asif Mehmood Awan
The four-day competition of the ongoing 31st National Senior Karate Championship for men in Abbottabad ended with a resounding victory for Pakistan Army, while the teams of Punjab and KPK jointly secured second position and the Pakistan WAPDA team secured third position in these competitions. Pakistan Army clearly proved its superiority in this championship with a total of eight gold, one silver and one bronze medals each. Punjab and KPK jointly secured second position with one gold, one silver and one bronze medal each, and Pakistan WAPDA secured third position with six silver and one bronze medal. At the end of these competitions, Commandant of PT School Abbottabad, Brigadier Zafar Mahmood Abbasi distributed prizes among the successful players and teams.
Three more medals were decided on the last day of the first-ever National Karate Championship for men held at the historic Government Postgraduate College No. 1 in Abbottabad, in which Pakistan Army won all disciplines of the sport on the last day. On the last day, Pakistan Army’s Shoaib Akhtar won gold in the under 50 kg weight category, while PK’s Muhammad Suleman won silver, while Higher Education Commission’s Amanullah and Sindh’s Muhammad Sufail Sohail jointly won bronze medals. Similarly, Pakistan Army also won the under 55 kg weight category, in which Pakistan Army’s Muhammad Farhan Rashid defeated Punjab’s Subhan Ali in the final after an exciting match. Farhan Rashid won gold in this event, Punjab’s Subhan Ali won silver, Balochistan’s Qasim Khan and Higher Education Commission’s Muhammad Kaif jointly won bronze medals. In the championship team meet events, Pakistan Army karate players proved their superiority in this team event as well and the team was declared the winners of the meet event.
Pakistan Army’s Muhammad Farhan Rashid Humayun, Shamsuddin Mubarak Ali, Jamal Abdul Nasir, Muhammad Asim and The team comprising Mustafizur Rahman won the gold medal while the Pakistan WAPDA team, comprising Nasir Ahmed Ehtesham Hussain Hidayatullah, Rohan, Abdul Aziz Jamshed and Sabih Raza, won the silver medal with the second position. The team comprising Balochistan’s Qasim Khan Islam Khan, Naqeebullah Noor Ahmed Shahram, Ali Haider and Har Biyar in the men’s team and Sindh’s Farooq Khan Talha Rafiq Farooq Ahmed Aftab Khan Muhammad Safail Shaheer Ahmed and Saeed Ali jointly won the bronze medals. In the previous event, KPK’s Muhammad Abrar won the under 60 kg weight category, Pakistan Army’s Shamsuddin won the under 75 kg weight category, Pakistan Army’s Mubarak Ali won the under 84 kg weight category, Pakistan Army’s Muhammad Asim won the over 84 kg weight category, and Pakistan Army’s Irshad won the over 84 kg weight category in the individual kata. Ali was successful in winning gold medals for his respective teams and was declared the leader, while in team kata, Pakistan Army’s Irshad Ali Saifullah Muhammad Fayyaz and Waheedullah won gold medals for their teams. According to the overall results, Pakistan Army proved its supremacy in all areas of the game by providing ample evidence of its expertise and winning eight out of the 10 men’s medal events. Pakistan Army not only won the first position with eight gold, one silver and one bronze medals, but also the championship trophy.
Punjab and KPK, thanks to their excellent performance in this men’s category, jointly won the second position by winning one gold, one silver and one bronze medal each, while the Pakistan WAPDA team could not win a single gold medal this time and appeared in third place on the medals table with six silver and one bronze medals. In these events, Pakistan Railways won one silver and one bronze, Sindh won six bronze medals and Balochistan won six bronze medals. Five bronzes: Islamabad and Higher Education Commission won two bronze medals each. All the institutional teams affiliated to the federation from all four provinces of Pakistan, Islamabad, Gilgit-Baltistan, and others participated in these competitions. On the closing day of the championship, Brigadier Zafar Mahmood Abbasi, Commandant of PT School Abbottabad, was the special guest and distributed trophies, medals, certificates, and cash prizes to the players of the winning teams. Thus, the four-day men’s national karate championship came to an end with many happy memories.
