Athlete Nadeem Hassan of Pakistan Army grabbed gold medal after winning the 42 kilometers marathon of the 33rd National Games played at Swat Motorway crossing through the archaeological Gandhara Civilization site in Jamal Ghari in Mradan district.
The archaeological site has an ancient Buddhist monastery, considered as the most imposing relics of Buddhism in all of Gandhara.
Gandhara Buddhists civilization from where the marathon started in the eve hours which nicely arranged by the Directorate of Sports Khyber Pakhtunkhwa with the strong support of Pakistan Athletic Federation, Pakistan Olympic Association and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Olympic Association.
The aim and objective of conducting the marathon is to promote historical Ghandhara civilization to the rest of the world.
All the 22 athletes paid a visit to the tomb of Shaheed Karnal Sher Khan and offered Fateha, before starting a 42 kilometers road race from Karnal Sher Khan Inter-Change. The aim and objective of holding the marathon, a very important event of the Athletic Meet, part of the 33rd National Games is to highlight the true image of the Gandhara Civilization through a slogan of the Games “Sports Tourismâ€.
Nadeem of Pakistan Army clocked 2.24.13sec by winning the gold medal, followed by Noshariwa Ashiq of Punjab 2.29.15sec and Sher Khan of Wapda with his time 2.36.92sec took bronze medal.
Deputy Commissioner Mardan Abid Wazir, Director General Sports Asfandyar Khan Khattak, Director Development, Directorate of Sports KP Niamat Ullah Marwat, President KP Athletic Association and former international athlete Habibur Rahman, players and officials of the Meet and 1122 were also present.
The first modern historical reference to these ruins was made in 1836 by the French Officer, the Buddhist remains are in a village named Mazdoorabad.
Explorations and excavations on this site began in 1864. A significant number of objects from the site can be found in the British Museum. The site underwent a major restoration in the 1920s.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2019
Comments
Comments are closed.