Top 20 Achievements by Pakistani Athletes in 2019!

The 2019 was generally a year of ups and downs for Pakistan but in terms of sports, Pakistani athletes had an eventful year. From figure skating to snooker, boxing to wrestling, and e-sports to cricket, athletes from Pakistan achieved individual glories and raised countries flag high in the world.

There are a few who were ahead of the rest due to their outstanding performances in the year.

• Mohammad Asif

Cueist Mohammad Asif, who is known for his beautiful control on cue, won IBSF World Snooker Championship in Turkey this year, which was his second individual world title. He also won two national-level snooker championships in 2019.

Asif had also won a silver medal in IBSF World 6 red-balls championship in 2019.

• Arshad Nadeem

Arshad is one the fastest emerging athletes in Pakistan. His monstrous throw of 86.29m at the SAG javelin throw competition not only netted him a gold medal but also a national record.

The throw also assured him a place in the Tokyo Olympics, making him the first-ever athlete from Pakistan in decades to directly qualify for Olympics on merit.

Arshad also won a gold medal at the National Games.

• Inam Butt

Inam Butt is one of the most successful athletes from Pakistan in this era. Like previous years, he continued to shine in 2019 as well.

He started the year with a silver medal in World Series Beach Wrestling in Brazil, which also earned him a berth at the World Beach Games, where he won Pakistan's first-ever gold medal in the competition.

Inam added another gold medal to his collection in the South Asian Games (SAG). He was also in top-form during National Games in Peshawar, where he won his 13th consecutive national level gold medal.

•  Babar Azam

Babar Azam collectively scored 2082 international runs in 2019 across all the three formats this year, with Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma being the only players ahead of him. In red-ball cricket, Azam scored 616 runs in 11 innings — the most by any Pakistani batter.

He also added another 1092 runs in ODIs, while he scored 374 runs in T20Is.

The star batsman also performed well in T20 leagues around the world with over 1600 runs in the year with white-ball.

• Mohammad Wasim

Pakistan's prominent boxer Mohammad Wasim made his comeback to the ring in 2019 and he made it with a bang, as he won both his professional bouts.

Wasim's first bout was in September and he knocked out his opponent from the Philippines in mere 82 seconds. In his second bout of the year, Wasim, known as the Falcon,  defeated two times former champion Giango Lopez from Mexico after a tough battle.

•  Shah Hussian Shah

Judoka Shah Hussain Shah — son of Pakistan's legend Boxer Hussain Shah — is following the legacy of his father and keeping Pakistan's flag high.

Despite all obstacles, Shah earned a continental quota place for the Tokyo Olympics after outstanding performances in Abu Dhabi and Asia Pacific Championship.

The 26-year-old Judoka won one gold and one silver medal in the SAG, and added another gold at the National Games in Peshawar.

• Bismah Maroof

Captain of Pakistan's women cricket team, Bismah Maroof, in 2019 was one of the most outstanding performers in women's cricket with the bat.

She scored 459 runs in 15 T20I innings in the year, which is the most by any female player from a full member country in women T20Is in 2019.

In ODIs, she scored 273 runs in 10 innings to keep herself among prominent performers from Pakistan in women's cricket this year.

•  Saadi Abbas

Karateka Saadi Abbas is another name among the top-performing sportsmen from Pakistan in 2019. He won two gold medals, one in the 75 kg individual category and another in team Kumite, during the SAG in Nepal.

He also won a gold medal for Pakistan at the United Arab Emirates Open and remained among the top performers in Tokyo Open.

Abbas also won a gold medal in National Games in 2019.

•  Najma Parveen

Najma is among the most decorated female athletes of Pakistan , who has brought several laurels for the country in the past few years.

In SAG, Najma won gold in women's 400m hurdles and a bagged silver in the 200m race for Pakistan. She also won six gold medals in this year's National Games, three of which were achieved with a national record timing.

• Mahoor Shahzad

Mahoor is among the top Badminton players from Pakistan. She became the first-ever Pakistani to be marked among the top 150 players of the world this year.

In 2019, Mahoor won 10 out of 16 individual and three out of five double events.

She also won a gold medal in the Pakistan International Series Badminton Championship and won a Bronze medal in Bulgaria Open.

She won silver in the doubles event at the Pakistan international series while also playing quarter-finals of several other international tournaments.

• Athletes Bring 32 Gold Medals Home at SAG 2019

After winning only 12 golds at the previous edition of the South Asian Games in 2016, the Pakistani athletes made sure that the medals tally comprehensively beat those of previous outings.

Pakistan finished fourth with a total of 132 medals, including 32 gold, 41 silver, and 59 bronze. The karate squad was the most successful, winning 6 gold medals while athletics and weightlifting teams bagged 5 golds each.

•  Irfan Mehsood

A martial arts athlete from Pakistan, Irfan Mehsood made it to the Guinness Book of World Records after completing 48 one-leg elevated push-ups in one minute, breaking the previous record held by an Indian athlete Ashwani Kumar, who completed 34 reps in one minute last year.

• Arslan Ash 

Pakistani e-gaming prodigy, Arslan Ash’s unstoppable rise in the world of Tekken 7 has earned him the award for the best E-Sports Player of 2019.

Renowned sporting website, ESPN declared Arslan Ash the best player of the year for winning both the Japanese and the US-based Evo Championship Series tournaments in the same year.

• Gold Medals Galore at Special Olympics World Games

With 92 athletes participating in the Special Olympics World Games 2019, Pakistan managed to win 61 medals, including 18 gold, 28 silver, and 15 bronze medals.

The special athletes made the country proud by raising the Pakistani flag high at the event which took place in Abu Dhabi from March 14 to 21.

• Mallak Faisal 

Dreams do come true and so it did for this 12-year-old-girl from Pakistan, who clinched her first-ever figure skating title in Austria this year.

Having started figure skating at the age of 5, Mallak Faisal Zafar impressed with her moves at the event, winning the first position in the Basic Novice Girls II category at the 24th International Eiscup Innsbruck 2019.

• Sana Mir 

Former Pakistan captain, Sana Mir’s leadership abilities won over the judges at Wisden, making her the captain of their team of the decade.

The 33-year-old cricketer has been a role model for the young female cricketers not just in Pakistan but for girls from other countries as well. In addition, the all-rounder also bagged a number of local and international awards for her exemplary leadership skills.

• Abid Ali

Having made his international debut at the age of 32, Abid Ali became the first man in the history of cricket to score centuries on both ODI and Test debut this year.

The right-handed opener smashed his debut ODI ton against Australia and later raised his bat on Test debut against Sri Lanka.

•  Huzaifa Ibrahim 

After 18 years, Asian no.2 Huzaifa Ibrahim from Karachi, secured the title of US Junior Open Squash Championship for Pakistan by edging out top seed Yassien Shohdy of Egypt in Allston, USA.

• Tayyab Aslam

Gold medalist of recently concluded South Asian Games, Tayyab Aslam won two more international Squash titles on home soil. Top seed Tayyab Aslam won the title after defeating former Pakistan No 1 Danish Atlas Khan 3-1 in the final of 13th DG Rangers Sindh Squash Championship 2019 at Sindh Rangers Jahangir Khan Squash Complex, North Nazimabad, Karachi.

World no. 61 Tayyab Aslam also put in a sublime display to overcome compatriot Farhan Mehboob by 3-0 at Mushaf Squash Complex, Islamabad to be crowned champion of the Serena-Huawei Pakistan International Squash Championship 2019.

• Muhammad Khalil Akhtar 

Pakistan’s talented shooter Mohammad Khalil Akhtar has became the first shooter from the country to qualify for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.

Also known as ‘Shooter Akhtar’, he qualified after a swell performance at the World Shooting Cup which was hosted in Brazil. The event served as the qualifier for the 2020 Olympics and Akhtar qualified through the quota system.