Sadaf Siddiqui (born August 27, 1985) is a Pakistani

track and field Track and field (or athletics in British English) is a sport that includes Competition#Sports, athletic contests based on running, jumping, and throwing skills. The name used in North America is derived from where the sport takes place, a ru ...

sprint athlete from

Lahore Lahore ( ; ; ) is the capital and largest city of the Administrative units of Pakistan, Pakistani province of Punjab, Pakistan, Punjab. It is the List of cities in Pakistan by population, second-largest city in Pakistan, after Karachi, and ...

who has competed in international sprint races for

Pakistan Pakistan, officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by population, fifth-most populous country, with a population of over 241.5 million, having the Islam by country# ...

., beijing2008.cn, ret: Aug 27, 2008 Siddiqui represented Pakistan at the 2008 Summer Olympics in

Beijing Beijing, Chinese postal romanization, previously romanized as Peking, is the capital city of China. With more than 22 million residents, it is the world's List of national capitals by population, most populous national capital city as well as ...

where she competed in the Women's 100 metres event, placing seventh in her heat without advancing to the second round.

Career

Siddiqui participated in the sprint events:

100 metres The 100 metres, or 100-meter dash, is a sprint race in track and field competitions. The shortest common outdoor running distance, the dash is one of the most popular and prestigious events in the sport of athletics. It has been contested at ...

and

200 metres The 200 metres, or 200-meter dash, is a sprint running event. On an outdoor 400-metre racetrack, the race begins on the curve and ends on the home straight, so a combination of techniques is needed to successfully run the race. A slight ...

International

In 2006, at the

South Asian Games The South Asian Games is a quadrennial multi-sport event held among athletes from South Asia. The South Asia Olympic Council, which was formed in 1983, governs it. The Games consist of seven countries, namely Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Maldives, N ...

held in Colombo, Sri Lanka, Sadaf won a bronze medal in the women's 100m race. Siddiqui was also part of the women's relay team participating in the Colombo

2006 South Asian Games The 2006 South Asian Games (also known as the 10th South Asian Games) were held in Colombo, Sri Lanka from 18 August to 28 August 2006, in the Sugathadasa Stadium with more than 2000 sportspersons competing in the record 20 disciplines of Sports. ...

along with Saira Fazal, Naseem Hameed and Nadia Nazir. In 2008, she represented Pakistan at the

Summer Olympics The Summer Olympic Games, also known as the Summer Olympics or the Games of the Olympiad, is a major international multi-sport event normally held once every four years. The inaugural Games took place in 1896 in Athens, then part of the King ...

in Beijing. Siddiqui was one of the two female competitors in Pakistan's 37-member contingent for the Olympic games, the other being Kiran Khan in swimming category. Siddiqui competed in the

sprint and placed seventh in her heat without advancing to the second round. She ran the distance in a time of 12.41 seconds at the Bird's Nest national stadium. In the Dhaka

2010 South Asian Games The 2010 South Asian Games, officially the XI South Asian Games, was a major multi-sport event that took place from 29 January to 8 February 2010 in Dhaka, Bangladesh. This was the third time that the Bangladeshi capital hosted the South Asian ...

, Sadaf along with athletes Nadia Nazir, Naseem Hameed and Javeria Hassan was part of the women relay team that won bronze medal.

Drug Ban

In 2010, Sadaf Siddiqui, along with many other top athletes failed the doping tests conducted during national trials, prior to the

Commonwealth Games The Commonwealth Games is a quadrennial international multi-sport event among athletes from the Commonwealth of Nations, which consists mostly, but not exclusively, of territories of the former British Empire. The event was first held in 1930 ...

conducted in New Delhi. Siddiqui was banned by the Athletics Federation of Pakistan (AFP) for 2 years for the use of steroids. Siddiqui claimed that the doping test came positive due to a medicine she had taken to combat her fever. She said if she had known earlier about it, she would not have taken the medicine. Siddiqui said that players are not aware of the kind of medicines to not be taken prior to doping test and there should be an awareness campaign to educate players competing at international level. Siddiqui took up to the government and the media to help her in her case to lift the ban. She appealed to the Minister Sports Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Syed Aqil Shah at Olympic Secretariat to remove her ban. According to Siddiqui, she had appealed before the appellate tribunal within the next 14 days of the ban but it was rejected. The athlete said that after two years, her career would finish

Marriage

Sadaf Siddiqui married journalist and former General Secretary of Rawalpindi Islamabad Sports Journalist Association (RISJA), Afzal Javed in 2011. The wedding was attended by politicians and many high-end personalities including Interior Minister Rehman Malik, House in the Senate leader Syed Nayar Hussain Bukhari, PM's advisor on law and justice Advocate Farooq Awan, Babar Awan and other notable people.

References

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Siddiqui, Sadaf 1985 births Living people Pakistani female sprinters Olympic athletes for Pakistan Athletes (track and field) at the 2008 Summer Olympics 21st-century Pakistani sportswomen Olympic female sprinters