Daily Times

RAWALPINDI: Chief of Army Staff (COAS) General Qamar Bajwa on Tuesday visited Abbottabad to witness the final of 5th COAS Young Soldiers Inter Central PACES (Physical Agility and Combat Efficiency System) Championship at Baloch Regimental Centre.

According to Inter Services Public Relations (ISPR), General Bajwa witnessed the final of 5th COAS Young Soldiers Inter Central PACES Championship at Baloch Regimental Centre Abbottabad and awarded prizes to the winners. A total of 532 contestants from 23 regimental centres participated in this event.

Engineer Center team won the 5th Army PACES Championship while Baloch Centre team won the 2nd Position in the competition. Sapper Sanatullah won the overall best player award of the competition by securing 2798 marks and Sepoy Muhammad Adil secured overall 2nd Position by securing 2785 marks.

In individual matches, Sepoy Rizwan Abbas secured first position in 3.2km run by covering distance in 10.7 minutes. Sepoy Muhammad Yaqoob did 102 pull ups to clinch 1st position in pull ups match. Sapper Majid Ali secured first position in sit up match by doing 1131 sit ups. Sepoy Muhammad Adil did 1457 push ups to secure first position and Recruit Asees Iqbal won first position by completing combat efficiency test in 49.22 seconds and breaking the previous international Chinese record of 50.07 seconds.

Speaking on the occasion, the top general praised the participants and trainers for achieving very high standards of physical fitness and professionalism. He said the Pakistan Army is the most battle-hardened army in the world and it is primarily due to highest standard of physical fitness, professionalism and motivation of officers and men who face the challenges dauntlessly.

Earlier, on arrival in Abbottabad, the COAS was received by Inspector General Training and Evaluation (IGT&E) Lieutenant General Hidayatur Rehman and Lieutenant General Nadeem Raza, Commander 10 Corps.

The army chief also visited Engineers Centre Risalpur and installed Lieutenant General Javed Mahmood Bukhari as Colonel Commandant of Corps of Engineers. He pinned the badges of rank at the ceremony. Lt Gen Javed Mahmood Bukhari has the honour to be the sword of honour of his PMA Course awarded to the best cadet and has extraordinary record of service and contributions to the service. The general served as brigade commander as well as Swat GOC. A large number of serving and retired officers attended the ceremony.

Talking to the audience, the COAS praised contributions of the Engineers Corps towards nation building. He said the corps has much to take pride in their contributions towards defence and development of the motherland.

Published in Daily Times, September 20^th 2017.