Maaz bags double gold as Ramazan festival ends

PESHAWAR: National swimmer Maaz Akhtar claimed two gold medals in the 50m freestyle and 50m butterfly and was declared the best swimmer as the Ramazan Sports Festival concluded at the Peshawar Sports Complex here on Wednesday.

Hamid Asad and Ibrahim clinched second and third positions in the 50m butterfly, respectively. Amir Asad and Hamza Gul won silver and bronze medals in 50m freestyle.

Younas Khan bagged gold in the 50m breaststroke while Humam Ahmad won silver and Muhammad Saeed got bronze. KP Directorate of Sports and KP Swimming Association jointly organised the event.

Earlier, the Khyber Union football team of Khyber district won the thrilling final of the Ramazan Sports Festival.

Khyber Union defeated Young Bannu 1-0 in the final to clinch the title. The attackers of the two teams made several attempts on the goalposts but no team could manage to score a goal.

After a goalless first half, leading scorer of the tournament and Khyber Union player Mujahid managed to score a magnificent goal. Young Bunnu tried their level best to level the tally but they failed.

Qari Adnan, the Under-15 national champion, won

the badminton final against Zalan 3-0. The event was played at Wadood Hall of Peshawar Sports Complex.

In the women’s badminton singles, Fatima defeated Mehvish 2-0 to win the title. Fatima and Noureena defeated Bushra and Rimsha in the doubles final 3-0.

Rehman of Bannu defeated Ihtisham of Peshawar 3-1 in the men’s singles while Rehman and Khalil beat Kashif and Abdullah in the men’s double 3-0.

Irfan Musazai won the media archery event. Asim Sheraz and Hashim Khan came second and third, respectively.

Danish Babar won the media badminton event. He defeated Zeeshan Anwar in the final. Zeeshan and Shahid Afridi got second and third positions, respectively. Fahad won the media swimming event, followed by Ijaz Ahmad Khan and Naeem Khan.

The concluding ceremony was held at the Peshawar Sports complex. Former provincial sports minister Syed Aqil Shah was the chief guest on the occasion and distributed trophies and awards among the winning teams and players.