I can never stop smiling whenever I look at the medals and trophy that Zahra' won during her recent Sports Day. She has done remarkably well in sports - something she never showed much interests in when she was in Primary school. At the time she has hundreds of excuses to not participate. But the tide of events changed when she was in Primary 4 and participating in her first Cross-country race where she didn't win any placing at all. She didn't finish the race.
The following year, she won 15th place and that helped to carry points for her school house - which was green, or Hunain, at the time. She showed her mark when she was in Primary 6 by winning 3rd place. That was her starting point. She began to show her prowess in track events when she moved up to Secondary school. By then, she was pulled out of the Green House and moved to Yellow House. She created quite a stir in the track events she participated in especially the 200 m race and the 400x4 race. She never fail to bring home 2 or more medals which could either be Silver or Bronze.
This year, she broke her own record. For the first time she was selected to participate in the 800 m race and she won the gold Medal with a timing of 3 mins 26 secs.
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| Zahra' in her House Attire for the house Battle Cry. Fortunately for her team, The Khandak house won the Battle Cry. Notice her shoes? The shoes was part of the Reebok voucher I won for a Marks & Spencer photo shoot. |
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| She won the 800 m race with a breeze leaving the 2nd winner approximately 100 m behind her |
I was not prepared when she ran for the 400x2 race because she told me that she only ran for the 800 m race. Sitting at the Grand Stand, I was enjoying myself looking at the other runs when I suddenly spotted her running at break neck speed. The most obvious identification was her headscarf that was flying away. I quickly ran to the field to get a snapshot of her with the Baton. Couldn't gtr a nice shot but to me this is the best I could get.
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| The 400x2 m race that she was asked to participate to to replace the runner who took ill suddenly - I guess due to hot weather |
She helped the team won Gold medal with the finishing time of 6 mins 30 secs., thus making it the second gold medal for her.
I didn't get to see her participate in High Jump where she won Silver Medal and Badminton for which she clinched the Bronze Medal. Her achievements not only is her personal success but also the success for her House, Khandak, thus making her house the Defending Champion two years in a row.
For her achievements, she was awarded the Best Female Athlete for 2015 and this was the first time the school awarded such Awards to the Best Sportsman and Sportswoman. Her dream of winning a Trophy in Sports was a dream come true.
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| Zahra' with the trophy that entitled her the Best Female Athlete 2015 Award |
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| The Defending Champion with the overall marks of 780 points |
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| Zahra' with her proud dad |
