Aswa Marjan Niazi took gold and her father took silver, weeks after a High Court order was needed to get them on the plane.
Fourteen-year-old Aswa Marjan Niazi has won gold at the International Horseback Archery Championship in Russia, finishing first in a field of international competitors. Her father, Najeebullah Khan Niazi, took silver, completing a father-and-daughter podium finish for Pakistan.
The result is remarkable on its own. What makes it more so is that neither of them was supposed to be there.
Both had been selected on merit to represent Pakistan. Both had filed complete applications with the backing of the Pakistan Horsemanship Association. But Najib, a sub-inspector with the Federal Investigation Agency, had received no decision on his request for Ex-Pakistan Leave or a No Objection Certificate, and no communication either way. With the championship running from July 16 to 30, Pakistan’s participation was days from collapsing over paperwork that nobody had signed.
On July 15, the day before the competition opened, the Lahore High Court took up a writ petition filed against the Federation of Pakistan. Justice Khalid Ishaq heard the case.
The petitioner’s counsel argued that father and daughter had been selected on merit and had done everything asked of them, and that the silence from the authorities was putting the country’s participation at risk. Recognising the urgency, the court directed the Additional Attorney General to obtain instructions and ensure a formal decision was made by 1pm, then took the matter up again half an hour later.
When the hearing resumed, the state’s position hardened. The law officer told the court that disciplinary proceedings relating to transfer orders and departmental matters were pending against Najib, and argued that because the case concerned service matters, it was barred under Article 212 of the Constitution.
The court’s response drew a line between the father’s employment record and the child’s opportunity. It observed that while the petitioner remained answerable to his department, the rights of his minor daughter, who had earned the chance to represent Pakistan at an international event, could not be adversely affected by proceedings pending against her father. It further noted that his parental responsibilities towards her also required protection.
Provisional permission was granted on a one-time basis, subject to an undertaking that Najib would return to Pakistan, face all departmental proceedings, and produce a valid visa and return ticket. The undertaking was submitted in open court and accepted. The court then directed the authorities to issue the NOC before the close of office hours, and ruled that if it was not issued for any reason, immigration officials should allow them to travel on the strength of the court order alone. The petition was adjourned until after the summer vacation.
The 90-Second Ride That Won Gold
Horseback archery asks a rider to shoot accurately from a moving horse without reins, controlling the animal with legs and balance while drawing, aiming and releasing. It is among the oldest competitive disciplines in the world and among the least forgiving.
Aswa’s strongest performance came in the Hunt Track, the most demanding event on the programme. Riders take a horse into open ground and navigate natural terrain, jumps and three-dimensional targets placed along the course, all inside a 90-second window. The event tests versatility and horsemanship as much as marksmanship, because the rider has to read changing ground while staying in rhythm with the horse.
At one stage during her run, her horse became uncontrollable and broke into a full gallop. Aswa brought it back under control and completed the course, finishing with what officials described as composure. Her performance drew praise from judges, officials and competing archers from Pakistan, Russia and other participating nations.
Aswa has since been selected to represent Pakistan at the Asian Cup Horseback Archery Championship in China. She is now the youngest Pakistani horseback archer to qualify for competition at that level.
She joins a small but growing group. The Pakistan Horse and Mounted Archery Federation, based at the Chand Bagh Equestrian Centre, was formed as the official governing body for the sport in the country, and Pakistani archers have competed at the International Horseback Archery Alliance World Cup in Mongolia as well as in Turkey and the United States.
The sport also sits on older ground. Mounted archery and tent pegging were part of the subcontinent’s cavalry tradition long before either became a competition, and rural Punjab has kept that horsemanship alive through generations when nobody else was funding it.
Aswa’s gold will be read as a sporting result, and it is one. But the more useful story sits in the fortnight before it. A teenager selected on merit came within a day of missing an international championship because an application sat undecided on someone’s desk, and it took a judge to notice that the cost of that delay would fall on a child who had done nothing wrong. She got on the plane, and then she won.
