National Games | Pakistan

The closing ceremony of the 35th National Games was held in Karachi on Saturday, with Pakistan Army taking home the highest number of medals. Chief of Defence Forces (CDF) and Chief of Army Staff (COAS) Field Marshal Asim Munir was the chief guest at the ceremony, which was also attended by PPP Chairman Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari. View this post on Instagram Pakistan Army came in first, taking home 353 medals, out of which 200 were gold, 97 were silver and 56 were bronze. Wapda came in second with 232 medals, out of which 85 were gold, 73 were silver and 74 were bronze. Pakistan Navy came in third with 110 medals, 36 of which were gold, 39 were silver and 35 were bronze. Hosts Sindh finished with 96 medals, out of which 11 were gold, 26 were silver and 59 were bronze. View this post on Instagram After the distribution of the medals, CDF Field Marshal Munir, wearing a pair of black sunglasses and Sindhi ajrak around his neck, officially declared the games closed. View this post on Instagram Addressing the ceremony...

Pakistan’s international stalwarts led the charge as weightlifter Hanzala Dastagir Butt demolished the field to bag gold by a long shot, while badminton star Mahoor Shahzad won the women’s singles for the third time as the competitions drew to a close at the National Games on Friday. Wapda’s Hanzala made each lift look effortless as a delighted crowd mostly comprised of team-mates and enthusiasts of the sport looked on at the YMCA Scouts Auditorium. He lifted 157kg in the snatch and 193kg in the clean and jerk to post a massive 350kg total in the men’s 110kg category. The 23-year-old is already eyeing next year’s Commonwealth Games, where his older brother Nooh Dastigir Butt clinched the +109kg title in record-breaking fashion at the 2022 edition. “I take inspiration from him that one day I’ll also win a medal for Pakistan at that stage, and set a new record,” Hanzala told Dawn. Hanzala’s gold was one of four on the men’s side in addition to one silver and bronze medal each to clinch the trophy. Wapda’s Hanza...

Pakistan’s badminton queen, Mahoor Shahzad, lived up to her star billing with a gritty comeback victory to claim her third National Games gold on Friday, headlining a day of intense finals at the Nazimabad Sports Club, Karachi, that saw Wapda’s dominance challenged and a dramatic men’s singles decided by a contentious call. The sparse crowd inside the complex was treated to high drama, beginning with the marquee women’s singles where the event’s poster girl, Wapda’s Mahoor, faced a stern test from Army’s left-handed dynamo, Alja Tariq. Mahoor, initially off-rhythm, trailed 7-3 in the first game before her veteran composure surfaced. Forcing errors and winning a breathtaking rally to level at 9-9, she edged a tight opener. The second game was a fiercer battle. Alja, pumped and precise with her drops and smashes, surged to a 9-4 lead and held an 11-8 advantage at the mid-game break. Facing a possible decider, the champion shifted gears. She methodically reeled in the deficit, drawing level at 14-14 before racin...

At the 35th National Games, the story of sport has so often been of sheer will against long odds. But on Wednesday, the narrative splintered into two distinct, dazzling truths: one written in the chronometric perfection of chlorinated water, the other etched in the sun-baked sand of the long jump pit. In the pool, a digital clock froze at a number never before seen in Pakistan: 29.99 seconds. On the track, a measuring tape confirmed a distance of 5.52 metres, sealing a historic triple crown. The fourth day of the competitions belonged to 19-year-old swimmer Hamza Asif, who shattered a time barrier and a 26-year-old Olympian who shattered expectations, proving that national sporting history can be made in parallel universes. The sun played the role of spotlight over the swimming arena, its zenith aligning with the men’s 50m breaststroke final. The audience was on its feet, phone cameras held horizontally. In lane six was Rayan Awan, the national record holder in the event. The buzzer sounded. Seven swimmers fl...

The sun burned with a fierce, summer-like intensity on the winter morning but it couldn’t temper the spirit of the competitors gunning for glory at the National Games on Tuesday. The open field at the athletics venue hummed with simultaneous action — discus flying in one sector, hurdlers pacing in another. On the track, athletes bobbed and stretched, their shadows short under the midday blaze. In the stands, a scattered crowd fanned themselves, eyes darting between events. The pool offered some respite from the blazing sun as swimming began at the Games on a day headlined by Commonwealth Games gold medallist Inam Butt extending his remarkable legacy by clinching his 18th national title — the most by any wrestler — and a national record for discus thrower Faryal Farooq. Faryal’s feat was the culmination of a four-years effort; those long days of lonely training meeting minutes of razor-edged opportunity. Through her first four throws, she was nowhere near the mark. The record, it seemed, would elude her once m...

It was the late 1990s on a crisp December morning in Karachi, the cloudless blue sky and glossy pool smiling at each other. Swimmers hunched over the edge of the pool before diving in as three technical officials standing behind with manual stopwatches clutched between their index finger and palm. Races concluded and left gold medallists and photo-finishers alike clueless on whether they had set a personal best time or age-group record. They simply had to wait for the results to be announced several minutes later, which translates to eons in the mind of an athlete. Except it wasn’t the 1990s — it was 2025, and swimming at the 35th National Games embodied the phrase “back to the future”. Sindh had finally caught up to the other provinces and installed touchpads in a 50m swimming pool in Karachi as per rules mandated by the Pakistan Swimming Federation. But no sooner had the imported touchpads and display boards been installed that they went kaput. Rumours of faulty technical equipment circulating the night bef...

On a scorching day of fainting veterans and rifle-shot starts, a girl named Kainat Khalil from Sindh rewrote the meaning of endurance at the 35th National Games. Athletics at the Games began not with a traditional pistol’s pop, but with the sharp, unexpected report of a rifle cutting through the cool Monday morning at the NPT&SC. It was an omen. This would be a day of raw, unvarnished struggle, where the starting command itself felt like a call to battle. The dust from the inaugural men’s 5,000m had barely settled before the December sun perched mercilessly over the open field. It transformed the arena into a kiln, making the very air an opponent. In the women’s 10,000 metres, the drama was medical: Athletes wilted, fainted and were stretchered away — vanquished not by rivals, but by the searing haze. Wapda’s Maria Bibi, who would emerge the quickest in 44 minutes and 21 seconds ahead of Navy’s Mumtaz (47:10.11), later stated the obvious with exhausted clarity. “The heat felt extreme during the race and that’...

Arshad Nadeem was the man of the hour on Monday morning when he allowed the audience to be part of history as they witnessed him launch his javelin to claim gold at the National Games. It was not lost on the 28-year-old that the crowd of a few hundred was delighted by his very presence at the PNS Karsaz ground, his throws the cherry on the top as they got to see an Olympic champion in action before their very own eyes. A robust lineup of track and field events crescendoed with the start of the men’s javelin, headlined by Arshad. A dozen cameramen lined the javelin sector’s periphery to get the perfect shot of Arshad in action as the heat bore down on the synthetic rubber track, the sun climbing higher in the sky to signal the advent of afternoon. The track reverberated with the soft thud of spikes and echoes of the commentators’ effusive praise for Pakistan’s sporting hero ahead of his first throw of 78.74m that, unsurprisingly, guaranteed him the lead. “Yeh din Arshad ka hai (this day belongs to Arshad) beca...

Just four days before the National Games basketball event was set to tip-off, the Pakistan Basketball Federation (PBBF) was told the venue was gone. With teams arriving and no court to play on, the event itself was in jeopardy. “We arranged everything in almost two days,” PBBF secretary Yaqoob Qadri told Dawn, revealing a significant off-court challenge. “There were some people who don’t want the event to happen.” Yet, on Sunday, the roar of a packed crowd for the Army-Sindh clash at the North Nazimabad Gymkhana in Karachi was the definitive answer. Against a backdrop of administrative hurdles, the players delivered a classic on the hardwood: a tale of Army’s clinical system slowly dismantling Sindh’s passionate home stand, culminating in a 97-62 victory. The roar in the arena was for Sindh. Every steal, every basket by the home team sent waves of noise crashing onto the court. But standing across from that passion was the cold, tall geometry of the Pakistan Army team. What unfolded was a classic clash of hea...

Pakistan Army served a powerful reminder of their sporting prowess, seizing 12 gold medals across multiple disciplines as the National Games charged through a pulsating day of action. Their goldrush on Sunday was spearheaded by utter dominance in taekwondo and sharp shooting on the ranges. The clearest demonstration of authority came in the taekwondo Poomsae events, where Army fighters ruled the roost, clinching eight gold medals across age categories. Their women set the tone: Sana Sabir (Under-50), Naila (U-30), Mehar-Un-Nisa (U-40) and Zeena Sheraz (Under-20)  all stood atop the podium. The men followed suit with Adil Hussain (U-30), Mohammad Mumtaz (U-40), Irshad Ali (U-50) and Syed Zohaib (U-20) securing their own golds. On the shooting ranges, Army and Navy engaged in a high-class duel, sharing three gold medals apiece. Navy swept the 10m air pistol events, with Rabia Kabir (232.2) edging Army’s Rimsha Nadeem (231.6) for individual glory before teaming with Rasam Gul and Hadia Liaquat for team gold. Arm...

Sindh Chief Minister Murad Ali Shah announced on Friday that Karachi would host the 35th National Games from December 6 to 13 after it was postponed from its initial dates in May. The games were set to be held from May 1-9 in Karachi but were postponed in April due to “unavoidable circumstances,” according to an official letter issued by the Sindh Olympic Association. Murad held a meeting today at CM House with a high-level delegation of the Pakistan Olympic Association (POA) to finalise preparations for the games. He welcomed the opportunity to host National Games, pledging full cooperation to ensure the games are organised in accordance with international standards. He directed all relevant departments to provide essential facilities to athletes, including training, medical care, transportation, and modern infrastructure. CM Murad announced the construction of a new swimming pool and acquisition of modern electronic timing and scoring systems. A Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) was also signed between the ...