Muhammad Sabir Ali from WAPDA won the 16th Tour de Pakistan cycle, which completed in Abbottabad on Sunday. The race started from Karachi with the 56 cyclists covering the total distance of 1660 kilometres. All the players showed an outstanding performance in the race. South Asian Games silver medalist, Sabir Ali completed his triumph with an overall time of 44 hours, 35 minutes and 45 seconds.
Muhammad Ibrahim, also from WAPDA earned second position, his time was 44 hours, 38 minutes and 25 seconds and Sultan Aftab, from Sui Southern Gas Company (SSGC) clinched the third spot with the timing of 44 hours, 38 minutes and 54 seconds.
Previously, 24-year-old Sabir won the first two levels but unfortunately, lost in the next two. On the other hand, Mohammad Asif won the third and fourth stage of 16th Tour de Pakistan. The Tour favourite, Sabir Ali did not lose his hopes and won the fifth and sixth stage. He built upon his lead by winning the seventh stage of the competition.
After winning the overall race, Sabir was very happy with the victory. This is Sabir’s first victory out of his previous four attempts.
Mohammad Sabir said while talking to the reporters, “I was chasing a dream and it came true, I worked very hard to make sure that I lift the trophy this year. I sacrificed a lot for it and it has paid off well” he added “I waited for three years to get here. I knew I will win the event when I won the first two stages.”
The 11th stage of Tour de Pakistan was won by the Mohammad Rafiq of Pakistan Army. He covered the distance of 150 kilometres in 3 hours, 39 minutes and 23 seconds. Mohammad Ibrahim from WAPDA claimed second position with the timing of 3 hours, 39 minutes and 33 seconds while Haroon Rashid from WAPDA was in third position with the timing of 3 hours, 39 minutes and 43 seconds.
Tour de Pakistan is the biggest National event for the cyclists in Pakistan. Sabir is currently working with WAPDA and after winning the race, his chances of promotion have increased massively. As a result, he can also apply for International events.
Overall, WAPDA took the first position ahead of SSGC, Army, Afghanistan, Sindh, Balochistan, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and FATA. Mohammad Sabir won the prize money of $2500 while runner up Mohammad Ibrahim received $2000 and Sultan Aftab got $1500. The remaining amount of $5000 was disturbed amongst the other cyclists.
The other top finishers apart from the top three, along with their timings were;
Niamat Ali (SSGC) 44hrs.39min:5sec, Haroon Rasheed (WAPDA) 44hrs.42min:35sec, Mohammad Rafiq (Army) 44hrs.42min:49sec, Mohammad Asif (Sindh), Nisar Ahmad (SSGC), Zamir Ahmad (SSGC) and Zahid Mehmood (Army).
