Sabir becomes Champion of Hills cyclist

ISLAMABAD—Sabir Hussain of Sui Southern won the Rawalpindi-to-Murree “Champion of Hills” cycle race on Tuesday.
Sabir won the top prize while three other SSGC cyclists were also among the top-6 finishers of the 68-kilomentres race held over an “Up the Hill” trek, starting from Army Stadium in Rawalpindi and terminating near Merhaba Hotel at the Hill Station of Murree after an ascent of nearly 7,000 feet.
Sabir Hussain got the top prize of Rs. 50,000 with a timing of 2hrs,28.45min while his runners-up Nisar Ahmed was 22 second adrift for a second-place prize of Rs.30,000 with a timing of 2 hrs, 29.07 min.
Another Sui Southern cyclist, Murad Ali, took the third place (Rs. 20,000) by clocking 2hrs,29.23min while Mubashir Shaukat of WAPDA trailed at fourth position (2hrs,33.35min) for a prize of Rs. 15,000.
The next two positions were both claimed by SSGC bikers with Naimat Ali clocking 2hrs,34.16min and Muhammad Husnain timing 2hrs,35.12min to bag prizes of Rs. 10,000 and 5,000 respectively.
Organised by Pakistan Cycling Federation to celebrate 131st birthday of Quaid-e-Azam Muhammad Ali Jinnah, 55-cyclists participated in the race. They hailed from Sui Southern Gas Co, Balochistan, Wapda, Pakistan Army, Pakistan Railways, Punjab, NWFP, Sindh, and FATA. Lt. General ® Syed Arif Hassan, President of Pakistan Olympic Association, who is also Chairman of Pakistan Sports Trust, was the chief guest at the Opening Ceremony at Army Sports Stadium, Rawalpindi.
He lauded the efforts of Pakistan Cycling Federation for holding this event regularly and doubled the amount of cash prizes.
Also present at the opening ceremony were Lt.Col.(Retd) Salahuddin, DG, PSB, Brig. Saleem Nawaz Malik, Director Army Sports, Col.Shujaat Ali Rana, Major ® Muhammad Afzal, Treasurer, Pakistan Olympic Association, Idrees Haider Khawaja, Waqar Ali, Secretary Finance and Muhammad Azam Dar, Assistant Director, PSB. Sardar Sajid, DDO Murree, was the chief guest at the prize distribution ceremony.—Online