Over 200 teams of young athletes from 26 universities based in Karachi, Hyderabad and Bahawalpur came together to take part in the 3rd AKU Inter-University Sports Olympiad which was organised by the student-led AKU Sports Society.
The eight-day event saw students put their skills to the test in a range of sports including athletics, badminton, basketball, cricket, futsal, table tennis, throwball, tennis, snooker, squash and volleyball.
The Olympiad concluded on Friday with two action-packed basketball matches which captured the essence of the competitive spirit: the pursuit of excellence in an environment of sportsmanship and fair play. Throughout the event men’s and women’s teams played hard and persevered through adversity to come out with their sporting spirit soaring higher than ever.
The winning institutions in the men’s and women’s events included Bahria University Medical and Dental College, BUMDC, and AKU in athletics; Greenwich University and AKU in badminton; Dow International Medical College and AKU in basketball; BUMDC and Iqra University in cricket; SZABIST Karachi in futsal; IBA and BUMDC in table tennis; Alpha College and AKU in tennis; SZABIST Karachi in throwball; Ziauddin University in snooker; Dow University of Health Sciences and Iqra University in squash; and AKU in volleyball.
Once more, student organisers Ayesha Memon, Usman Ali, Usama Waqar, Munir Mehmood, and Amna Minhas stepped up to make the Olympiad bigger and better than before.
At the closing ceremony, the organising team said: “Working together as organisers for the AKU Sports Olympiad over the past 2 years has been an exceptional experience from learning leadership, to bonding with your peers, and to competing with such amazing talent from all over Pakistan. It’s the passion for sports that drives us towards making this initiative bigger and better each year. Our aim is to promote sports and positive competition amongst the athletes.”
The winning teams and top players were honoured with trophies and cash prizes presented by organisers and AKU faculty.
The Olympiad was planned and executed by the AKU Sports Society with support from the Office of the Dean of Students and AKU’s Sports and Rehabilitation Centre. The first Olympiad was held in 2016 with 390 participants from 17 institutions. After a break of a few years the second edition of the event was hosted in 2019 with over 700 participants from 25 institutions.
