Mohammad Shehzad, 64-year old Pakistani, wins Gold at Asian Indoor Rowing Championship
Mohammad Shehzad, a 64-year-old rower from Pakistan, delivered an outstanding performance at the Asian Indoor Rowing Championship in Thailand, clinching the gold medal in the 60+ singles category.
Shehzad, facing a younger Indian opponent, James Joseph, secured first place, making history with his victory and setting an Asian record of 1:32.30.
His daughter Mahoor Shahzad, an Olympian who represented Pakistan in the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, celebrated her father's achievement on X (formerly Twitter).
Alhamdulillah! My father, Muhammad Shahzad, won a gold medal at the 2025 Asian Indoor Rowing Championship, defeating his Indian rival — at the age of 64!
Watching him achieve this has completely transformed the way I view determination, discipline, and strength. pic.twitter.com/eafiTfgElU — Mahoor Shahzad (@OfficialMahoor) June 5, 2025
Shehzad's victory added to Pakistan's impressive overall performance at the championship, where the nation secured 14 medals, including 10 gold, 3 silver, and 1 bronze.
The championship, held from May 26 to 31 in Pattaya, Thailand, saw athletes competing on indoor rowing machines, such as the Concept2 ergometer, simulating the rowing experience in a controlled environment.
This remarkable achievement capped off a series of successes by Pakistani rowers, with Abdul Jabbar and Tayyab Iftikhar also contributing to the medal tally.
Shehzad's win, however, stood out as a personal triumph, and he dedicated the victory to the Pakistan Armed Forces and the nation's martyrs, further adding emotional depth to his achievement.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Business Recorder
16 hours ago
- Business Recorder
Popovic's Australia perfect the art of qualifying ugly
SYDNEY: Tony Popovic would not deny that his Australia team are tough to watch at times but the former centre half has done what he was brought in to do and taken them to the brink of qualification for the 2026 World Cup. The Socceroos were distinctly second best to an understrength Japan in Perth on Thursday but Aziz Behich's late winner means they only have to avoid a 5-0 loss to Saudi Arabia in Jeddah on Tuesday to punch their ticket. 'It was a special, special night,' Popovic told reporters. 'The outpouring of emotions when we scored, and obviously after the game, yeah, they are moments I'll always remember. 'We've all played a part in getting us to this point, and we want to go to Saudi Arabia now and really finish the job off.' Saudi Arabia was the site of Popovic's greatest triumph as a club coach in 2014, when his Western Sydney Wanderers team drew 0-0 with powerhouse Al Hilal in Riyadh to become Asian champions in only the second year of the club's existence. It was partly that continental experience that encouraged Football Australia to bring Popovic in as coach last September when Graham Arnold quit with the World Cup qualification in trouble. The football has not always been pretty but the Socceroos are unbeaten since he took over with four wins and three draws, having conceded just five goals and scored 14 in the seven games. Popovic acknowledged there was plenty of room for improvement but said the seconds before Behich's goal proved there was already a strong platform of resilience to build on. 'Although football wise, we need to get better, and we will get better, but in that moment, the 90th minute, we had six players in the box, six players trying to score a goal,' he said. 'We were tough, we kept a clean sheet, and we've done something that many Australian sides have found hard to do.' Australia had not beaten Asian powerhouse Japan in 10 games going back to 2009 before Thursday night and Popovic said that achievement should not be underestimated. 'I understand why, now that I'm in this role, why it's hard to beat Japan,' he said. Uzbekistan savour sweet taste of success after sealing World Cup spot 'They are the best, and we want to challenge them to be the best, so we shouldn't shy away from that, and hopefully today, we take a big step forward knowing we can beat Japan.' Despite the emotion of the last-gasp victory, Popovic said there was no danger of any complacency ahead of Tuesday's clash at King Abdullah Sports City. 'It's been a really intense period since I've come in but everyone's embraced what we're aiming to do. And we're very close now to achieving our goal,' he said. 'We need to do a job in Saudi. We're in a great position, but we have to finish it off.'
Business Recorder
16 hours ago
- Business Recorder
Indian police arrest four people for cricket fans stampede
Police in India's tech capital of Bengaluru have arrested four people, including an official of a top cricket franchise, in connection with a stampede during a trophy celebration that killed 11 people and injured 47, media reported. Four people, three from an event management company and one official from the Royal Challengers Bengaluru cricket team, whose victory in the Indian Premier League this week led to fan frenzy, were arrested early on Friday morning, media said. Spokespersons for the team did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Reuters. On Wednesday, Bengaluru were celebrating their win the previous day over Punjab Kings in the final of the IPL's 18th edition, the world's richest T20 cricket league. The team had given away free passes for the celebration at a stadium in the city but said that numbers would be limited. Thousands of people gathered outside the stadium, and fans without passes tried push through the gates, leading to a stampede. At least 11 die in crowd chaos outside Indian cricket stadium The franchise said later the incident was 'unfortunate' and pledged one million Indian rupees to each family of the 11 fans who died on Wednesday. Stampedes occur frequently in India, mainly at religious events, but it was the first time in 45 years that fans had died in a crush at a sporting event, media said. India's head cricket coach Gautam Gambhir said on Thursday he did not support such roadshows and celebrations. 'Celebration is important. But more important than that is the life of any person. So, if we are not prepared or if we can't handle the crowd in that way, then we might as well not have these roadshows,' Gambhir told reporters.
Express Tribune
21 hours ago
- Express Tribune
IPL's Bengaluru pledge cash help for stampede victims
Fans stand next to abandonned shoes and a fallen barriers following a stampede during celebrations, a day after Royal Challengers Bengaluru's victory at the Indian Premier League (IPL) outside the M. Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bengaluru on Wednesday evening. PHOTO: AFP Royal Challengers Bengaluru said Thursday they stood "united" with fans as the Indian Premier League champions announced financial aid to families of those crushed to death during their title celebrations. Hundreds of thousands had packed the streets in the southern Indian city of Bengaluru on Wednesday to welcome home their hero Virat Kohli and his RCB team-mates after they beat Punjab Kings in a thrilling IPL final. But the euphoria of the vast crowds ended in disaster when 11 fans died in a stampede near the city's M. Chinnaswamy Stadium, where the players were parading the trophy. Most of the dead were young fans aged between 14 and 29 who had gone out just to catch a glimpse of their heroes. Dozens of abandoned shoes and flip-flops littered the site in the aftermath. RCB offered financial aid of $11,655 to each family of those killed. Indian media have widely reported the team earned $2.3 million in prize money alone for taking the title on Wednesday. "Our fans will always remain at the heart of everything that we do," RCB said. "We remain united in grief." Kohli, who top-scored in the final, said he was "at a loss for words" after celebrations of a dream IPL crown turned to tragedy. Prime Minister Narendra Modi called the accident "absolutely heartrending". Police used mild force to disperse people outside the stadium, an eyewitness told AFP, but the crowd was "extremely difficult" to control. Lakshminarayan, who lost his 14-year-old granddaughter in the crush, said his family carried the child in a motor rickshaw to hospital. He said celebrations should have been delayed to prepare for the widely expected mass crowds. "There was no need to conduct celebrations the very next day, they should have postponed it to a week and organised it a better way," he said. "You should take all precautionary measures, they should have police protection and follow the queue system." Street food vendor Manoj Kumar mourned the death of his 18-year-old son. "I wanted him to go to college," Kumar told the Indian Express newspaper. "I brought him up with a lot of care. Now he is gone." A grieving mother outside a city mortuary said her 22-year-old engineering student son had also died. "He was crazy about RCB," she was quoted as saying by the Indian Express. "He died in an RCB shirt. They danced when RCB won and now he is gone. Can RCB give him back to us?".
