From wooden skis to Pakistan's 1st Winter Olympian - (Washington Post)

These days, Abbas uses Atomic skis and equipment donated to him through his country's ski federation, along with the Pakistan Air Force, in which Abbas is currently enlisted, his primary duty being to ski. Abbas waxes and tunes his own skis, a job the top competitors typically hire a technician to do.

His coach arranges the training, does the cooking and cleaning and serves as an interpreter for Abbas, who is still working on his English. It's all so Abbas can focus solely on his skiing.

Training to compete with the best in the world has been challenging, even under Farooq's guidance. At 17, Abbas spent 15 days in Japan, learning the technique of the slalom from a specialist.

Hardly enough time.

With no travel budget, Abbas only attended a handful of small events each year. He would go to a military-and-police giant slalom race in Switzerland, or an entry-league FIS competition in Iran.

His results were unspectacular. He needed more training.

So, Farooq rounded up more funds, enough to send his star pupil, along with seven other kids, to Austria in 2009 to work with some professional coaches. It was an intensive six-week training session, a crash course in the slalom.

With proper training, Abbas began to make great strides. He even finished eighth in a lower-tier race in Lebanon last March, his only top-10 finish at a FIS-sanctioned competition.
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Pakistani Nation has a new hero in Naseem Hameed

"By Syed Khalid Mahmood

The Pakistan sports in general has been undergoing a lean patch for quite sometime and under the circumstances it’s not surprising to find the nation getting overjoyed with the rare moment of triumph.

Now it’s Naseem Hameed having become a folk hero after becoming South Asia’s fastest woman by winning the 100-metre race in the regional games held recently in Dhaka, Bangladesh.

She had clocked 11.81 seconds to clinch the gold medal in the race in the 11th South Asian Games to become Pakistan’s first female athlete to win the sprint in the history of the regional competition launched quarter of a century ago.

The 22-year-old Naseem was accorded hero’s welcome upon her return to hometown Karachi and there has been no dull moment for her since then. The life has changed completely for the youngster and she has been elevated to the status of celebrity as quickly as she had covered the distance of those 100 meters."
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All About Latest Sports Action: Nation has a new hero in Naseem Hameed