Pakistan’s Olympics journey ends as Najma finishes last in 200m race

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Pakistan's Najma Parveen (L) competes in the Women's 200m Round 1 during the athletics event at the Rio 2016 Olympic Games at the Olympic Stadium in Rio de Janeiro on August 15, 2016. / AFP PHOTO / OLIVIER MORIN

KARACHI: Pakistan’s Olympics journey came to an end as female athlete Najma Parveen failed to qualify for the main round of women’s 200 metre race on Monday.

Najma finished last in the race and took 26.11 seconds to reach the finish mark. She was the last of the country’s seven-member contingent to bow out of the Games.

Earlier, Judoka Shah Hussain, who was one of the three Pakistanis to qualify for the mega event, failed to make it to the final round.

After getting bye into the first round, Hussain was knocked out by Ukrainian Artem Bloshenko in the second round of men’s 100 KG Judo event.

Before Hussain, shooter Minhal Sohail and swimmer Haris Bandey, went out with unimpressive stints.

Pakistan’s flag bearer Ghulam Mustafa Bashir and Liana Swan, who competed in men’s 25-meter rapid fire pistol event and women’s 50-metre freestyle respectively, could not help Pakistan break its medal jinx either.

It has now been 24 years since Pakistan last won an Olympics medal.

It was the first time that Pakistan’s national hockey team was not featuring in the mega event as it failed to qualify.

Most of the other athletes, too, for the quadrennial sports spectacle got entry through wildcard or continental quota system.

Not even a single boxer could qualify for the Olympics although one of Pakistan’s two non-hockey medals came through boxing in the Games’ 1988 edition.