Salman and Parkha win gold medals in golf at 34th National Games

QUETTA: The golf event of the 34th National Games at Quetta concluded on Sunday after four rounds of strikingly impressive encounter between top amateurs of the country. The management of Quetta Golf Club and Balochistan Golf Association, led by Asghar Ali Shah, made this possible as did harmonious efforts of the Pakistan Golf Federation represented by Brig Sohail Ishrat and Malik Kamran. And at their playing best were noteworthy players like Salman Jehangir, Hussain Hamid, M Arsalan, Shahzaib Jahan, Nouman Ilyas in men’s section and Parkha Ijaz, Rimsha Ijaz, Suneya Osama and Hamna Amjad in women’s section .

The winners of the team gold medal were Pakistan Army whose playing members were Noman Ilyas, Shahzaib Jahan, M Arsalan and M Shaoib. Their untiring preparations for this national event paid off and by adhering to a game plan and winning strategy, they maintained a dominance on all four days of the competition flow. They had the distinction of being the front runners on the first day and never let go of this command and control till the victory target was achieved on the final fourth day. And all accolades to their effort as they were up against a very accomplished Pakistan WAPDA team comprising sturdy and energetic Salman Jehangir, the highly talented Hussain Hamid, the proficient Noman Asghar and the adroit Danish Javed. In the overall reckoning, Army won the illustrious gold medal by a compiling a team score of 867 over four rounds and in golfing terms 72 holes, 18 holes each day. As against this, WAPDA had to be content with the silver medal with a team aggregate score of 876 and they lost by nine strokes and managed to reduce the 13-stroke advantage that Army enjoyed at the start of the final round. Bronze medal winning team were Pakistan Air Force and their performing members were Usama Nadeem, Muslim Abbas, Danial Jehangir and Damil Ataullah. Their team score was 901.

And the valiant one in the individual gold medal race was Salman Jehangir, a merited player of the national golf circuit. Up against competent and masterly rivals, he managed to ensure success for himself through application of golfing technique, powerful hitting, accurate shot making from the fairways and most important of all, nerve free putting on the greens. His final round score of gross 69 was a remarkable effort and enabled him to assure for himself an esteemed gold medal. His scores for the championship were 76,69,71 and 69 and aggregate score was 285. Silver medal winner was M Arsalan, a young one whose father M Sultan was a prominent golf player and raised Arsalan to become a top of the line performer. M Arsalan had four-round scores of 70,76,72 and 71 and his aggregate for this championship was 289. He lost to the gold medal winner by four strokes. Bronze medal winner was Shahzaib Jahan who impressed all through the four days with his relentless effort. His four-round scores were 74,71,71 and 74 and championship aggregate was 290. Other notable performers were Noman Ilyas 293, Asif Khan 294, Hussain Hamid 295, Shahzaib Khan 297, Damil Ataullah 298, Ahmad Zafar Hayat 299 and Irtiza Hussain 301.

In the women’s individual race, Parkha Ijaz and Rimsha Ijaz remained strikingly noteworthy on all days of the championship. Hitting off the tees was precise and faultless and absolutely error free were the approach shots to the green. Ultimately Parkha Ijaz emerged as gold medal winner while her sister took home silver medal.

Ascendancy of Army in the women’s section was spearheaded by the wonder girls Parkha Ijaz, Rimsha Ijaz and Ania Farooq Syed. They combined well to become the proud winners of the National Games 2023 gold medal. Army compiled a winning aggregate team score of 450 and beat the silver medal winning Pakistan Air Force by seven strokes. PAF had services of Hamna Amjad, Suneya Osama and Dania Aziz who put up a strenuous effort but could only succeed in securing silver. Bronze winning women’s team were WAPDA and their members were Ana James Gill, Zaib un Nisa and Ghazala Yasmin. Their team score was 502.