Pakistan wraps up Special Olympics with 10 gold
Pakistan Cyclist Muhammad Safeer Abid made Pakistan proud when he won the 10km time trial at the Special Olympics World Games in Berlin. Safeer’s feat helped Pakistan improve its medal tally in the event to 10 golds. Cyclists won the most gold medals with four; the powerlifters received three, while two came in athletics and one in badminton.
Safeer completed the 10km in 23min 2.02sec ahead of Britain’s Tom Hsu who finished second in 23min 2.15sec and fellow Briton Ben Fea Lanksheart in 23min 23.43 finished third in seconds. Safeer competed in the M04 division. “This is an outstanding performance by Pakistani athletes,” Special Olympics Pakistan (SOP) media chief Asif Azeem told The Express Tribune in Berlin, just before the contingent attended the closing ceremony of the Games.
“The athletes had a good time on and off the field. “SOP President Ronak Lakhani’s decision to move the days before the start of the Games proved to be a decisive factor in their impressive performance. The athletes were given enough time to acclimatize and train in the facilities here.”
Pakistani women cyclists Madiha Tahir and Amina Arshad also put in a great performance in the 500m individual time trial. Madiha won the silver medal with 1 minute 14.15 seconds to cover the distance. She lost first place to Belgium’s Anne-Sophie van Zandweghe, who won the gold medal by 0.55 seconds. Amina was right behind her, taking the bronze medal in 1 minute 16.82 seconds.
Pakistan also won a silver medal in the men’s combined team futsal M03 division. They qualified for the finals after an impressive game against Germany. They were beaten 2-1 thanks to goals from Shahabuddin and United partner Muhammad Ali Baloch. In the final against Oman, Baloch scored twice and Muhammad Aqeel contributed one goal.
Pakistani boccia players also won silver medals in the team competition. Simran Mahesh Lal Devnani, Mahenoor Tahir, Farham Aslam and Jamilur Rehman played together and beat Canada, Australia and New Zealand in the M02 before taking on Bangladesh in the final. Bangladesh took the gold after a close 9-8 win. Farhan also won a bronze medal in the individual boccia event. He won two of his three M01 class matches.
“Most of the athletes were making their debut at the Games and most of them were traveling outside the country by air for the first time. Their reactions were very healthy,” Azeem said. “As an athlete, he kept predicting when the power would go out when he saw it was raining outside. He asked when there would be a blackout, and then he was just amazed that there had never been a blackout in Berlin.
Pakisant Cyclist Muhammad Safeer Abid made Pakistan proud when he won the 10km time trial at the Special Olympics World Games in .Safeer’s feat helped Pakistan improve its medal tally in the event to 10 golds. Cyclists won the most gold medals with four; the powerlifter received three, while two came in athletics and one in badminton. Safeer completed the 10km in 23min 2.02sec ahead of Britain’s Tom Hsu who finished second in 23min 2.15sec and fellow Briton Ben Fea Lanksheart in 23min 23.43 finished third in seconds.
Safeer competed in the M04 division. “This is an outstanding performance by Pakistani athletes,” Special Olympics Pakistan (SOP) media chief Asif Azeem told The Express Tribune in Berlin, just before the contingent attended the closing ceremony of the Games.
“The athletes had a good time on and off the field. “SOP President Ronak Lakhani’s decision to move the days before the start of the Games proved to be a decisive factor in their impressive performance. The athletes were given enough time to acclimatize and train in the facilities here.”
Pakistani women cyclists Madiha Tahir and Amina Arshad also put in a great performance in the 500m individual time trial. Madiha won the silver medal with 1 minute 14.15 seconds to cover the distance. She lost first place to Belgium’s Anne-Sophie van Zandweghe, who won the gold medal by 0.55 seconds. Amina was right behind her, taking the bronze medal in 1 minute 16.82 seconds.
Published in EDP BLOGS on June 26,2023.
