Daily Times

ISLAMABAD: The 2017 Special Olympic World Winter Games concluded in Austria on Saturday, with the Pakistan contingent returning home with an impressive tally of 16 medals. Over 3,000 Special Olympics athletes from 110 countries participated in the 2017 Winter Games. The mega event ended with a colourful ceremony in the Austrian city of Graz. Pakistani athletes claimed three gold, seven silver and six bronze medals at the event. The athletes were picked from all over the country, with three from Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa, two from Abbottabad, three from Gilgit-Baltistan, and one each from Lahore, Karachi, Islamabad and Murree. According to the Special Olympics Pakistan (SOP) officials, they spent a year preparing for the event and held an overall six training camps, including a vigorous training session in Naltar, with the Ski Federation of Pakistan’s help. The women’s snowshoeing team won gold in the relay race, covering the distance in a minute and 54 seconds. The men’s team won silver medal in the same race. Huzaifa Qazi claimed gold in the 200-metre snowshoe race, whereas Muhammad Hamza Aslam won bronze in the men’s 200-metre race. In addition, Farah Ahsan won bronze medal in the 200-metre race. Sabahat Tariq claimed gold medal in the women’s 100-metre sprint, while Qazi and Pervaiz Ahmad took home silver in the men’s 100-metre sprint. Fatima Amir and Muhammad Abdullah respectively won silver and bronze medals in taekwondo.

The leader of the Pakistani delegation, Aneesur Rehman, told media that the athletes were returning to their country with pleasant memories. He said the Winter World Games had given a new enthusiasm to the Pakistan special athletes. This was the second time that Pakistan competed in the World Winter Games. Meanwhile, cricket franchise Peshawar Zalmi’s owner, Javed Afridi, announced a cash award for Pakistanis who won medals at the Special Olympics World Winter Games. Afridi said in a tweet the Peshawar Zalmi Foundation will give away a prize of Rs100,000 to each Pakistani medallist.