ISLAMABAD: Saudi Arabian troops won the silver medal at the third Pakistan Army Team Spirit (PATS) Competition, which concluded on Wednesday at the National Counter-Terrorism Center (NCTC) near Kharian in Punjab.
Representatives of 16 foreign armed forces were part of the three-day event aimed at sharing experience in counterterrorism, the military’s media wing, ISPR, said in a statement on Wednesday.
“Being one of the toughest military competitions, PATS was aimed at testing survival skills and physical limits of the participants in short period of time spread over 62 hours including 25 field events,” the statement read.
Karachi Corps won the competition while Multan and Rawalpindi corps were second and third runners up respectively.
Turkey won gold medal in the international teams category, Saudi Arabia, Sri Lanka and South Africa won silver. Pakistan Air Force bagged bronze.
Other participants were Belarus, China, Egypt, Germany, Indonesia, Maldives, Palestine, Russia, UAE, UK, USA, and Uzbekistan.
“Training and team work are the hallmark of every soldier, confronted with multifarious challenges in diverse terrain, one has to be in the best physical and mental fitness for a robust and prompt response,” Pakistan Army chief Gen. Qamar Javed Bajwa, who was present at the competition’s closing ceremony, said as quoted by ISPR.
On Monday, Saudi Deputy Defense Minister Prince Khalid bin Salman met with Prime Minister Imran Khan and Gen. Bajwa in Islamabad to discuss ways to enhance strategic cooperation.
Prince Khalid discussed with the army chief defense collaboration and training exchange. According to a statement by the ISPR issued on Monday, the Saudi official also “acknowledged the professionalism of the Pakistan army and thanked for the assistance provided, especially toward the training of Royal Saudi Armed Forces.”
In mid-February, Pakistan and Saudi Arabia held their joint two-week counterterrorism drills in Hafar Al-Batin in the kingdom’s Eastern Province.
The training between the Royal Saudi Land Forces (RSLF) and Pakistan army was the seventh in the Al-Samsam series of joint military exercises between the two armed forces.