Daily Times
July 20, 2021
LAHORE: National shooter Muhammad Khalil Akhtar and national badminton star Mahoor Shahzad will be Pakistan’s flag bearers at the opening ceremony of the Tokyo Olympics on July 23. Khalil qualified for the Tokyo Olympics shooting competition with his performance in the 2019 Shooting World Cup at Rio de Janeiro in Brazil. Mahoor got the invitation place by the Olympic Games Tripartite Commission. She is the first female ever to represent Pakistan in badminton at the Olympics. This will be the first time that there will be two Pakistan flag-bearers at the Olympics’ opening ceremony. The flag-bearer at the Olympic Games is a symbolic leader, who is the first person to march a country’s delegation out during the grand opening ceremony parade. The person proudly displays the country’s flag during the parade. Since 1948, mostly Pakistan’s flag bearers at the Olympics have been field hockey players. As Pakistan hockey failed to qualify for the Rio de Ja
Cumbersome procedure at Tokyo airport causes fatigue, says Pak player
July 18, 2021
KARACHI: After a rigorous journey, Pakistanâs ten-member contingent, six players and four officials, landed at the Tokyo Airport on Saturday evening.
Till filing of the report the players were at the airport and were passing through various Covid protocols.
The contingent had flown from Islamabad at 3:40 am in the wee hours of July 16. And after a long, tiresome stop-over of 20 hours at the Doha Airport they reached Tokyo sometime around 7 pm on Saturday.
This long journey left the players utterly fatigued. âEveryone is so tired. We are still at the airport, the process takes too long,â a player told âThe Newsâ from Tokyo airport.
Najma determined to produce her best at Tokyo Games
July 15, 2021
KARACHI: This will be the second time on the trot when Pakistan’s experienced athlete Najma Parveen will feature in the Olympics on wild card. She will appear in the 200 metre race in the Tokyo Games on August 2 at the Olympic Stadium.
The Army’s athlete has been phenomenal in her approach and has been winning national titles since 2010 in a number of events, a huge achievement from the Faisalabad runner.
After having featured in the 2016 Rio Olympics on the basis of wild card, Najma’s success graph started rising. She set records in the 2019 National Games in Peshawar and carried the form into the 13th South Asian Games in Nepal in December 2019 where she snared a 400m hurdles gold, two silver medals and a bronze.
July 11, 2021
KARACHI: The entire Olympics-bound Pakistan contingent was on Saturday taken on board and were briefed about various matters regarding their training, implementation of the Covid SOPs, travelling to Tokyo and their stay there.
The meeting was attended by all 22 members, including ten players and 12 officials. Of the people 14 were present physically while the rest were taken online. Pakistan Olympic Association (POA) secretary Khalid Mehmmod told âThe Newsâ that Japan-based judoka Shah Hussain was also taken online and his various issues were listened to.
Those players and officials, who are scheduled to fly out of Islamabad for Tokyo on July 16, were also advised to reach the federal capital three days before departure so that they could also collect different things from the Pakistan Sports Board (PSB) and make solid travelling arrangements.
Daily Times Pakistan last won an Olympic medal at Barcelona in 1992
July 8, 2021
LAHORE: A 22-member Pakistan contingent, athletes and officials, will participate in the Tokyo Olympics starting on July 23rd (Friday) with closing ceremony on August 8th (Sunday). The contingent was announced by the National Olympic Committee (NOC) Pakistan on Wednesday. “The Pakistan Olympic Association (POA) takes the opportunity to share the contingent details of Pakistan set to participate in the Tokyo Games 2020. As of now, 22 athletes, athlete support staff, officials and medical support personnel are part of the contingent. The contingent includes in particular two Covid-19 Liaison Officers for point of contact between the contingent, POA and organisers. Apart from those joining from overseas, all the contingent members have been vaccinated and have submitted vaccination certificates to the POA,” said POA Secretary General Muhammad Khalid Mahmood. He said the POA would like extend best w