Pakistan’s athletes flop at Asian Games

LAHORE: Pakistan on Monday had a disappointing day in the 19th Asian Games as in most of the disciplines the country failed to deliver in Hangzhou.

At the Linan Sports Culture and Exhibition Centre Pakistan’s ace taekwondo fighter Haroon Khan, who was expected to fight for a medal, exited prematurely when he was beaten by Kyrgyzstan’s Aidin Altybaev 2-1 in the -58 kg round of 16.

Haroon had a fine start when he won the first round 10-5. However in the second round a grueling fight was witnessed with the Quetta-born fighter losing it 9-10. In the third round too some tough battle was witnessed before eventually the Kyrgyzstan fighter won it 15-12 in the last second to deny Haroon a place in the top eight. Haroon had got bye in the first round.

“The level of competition is too high in martial arts but there is no excuse. Still we hope from Hamza Saeed,” a senior official of Pakistan Taekwondo Federation (PTF) told The News after Haroon’s fall. On Tuesday (today) Arbaz Khan will fight in the -63 kilogramme.

Wushu: In wuhsu where Pakistan has a productive history with a handful of medals in the Asian Games, national fighters failed to deliver at the Xiaoshan Guali Sports Centre Sanda, falling to fighters of the world’s leading nations.

In the women’s 60 kilogramme quarter-finals, Maira Karamat went down to Vietnam’s Thuy Thu The Nguyen. Meanwhile in the men’s 60 kilogramme pre-quarter-finals, Abdul Khaliq lost his fight against China’s Xuetao Wang. In the men’s 65kg pre-quarter-finals, Mohammad Abdul Rehman was beaten by Abdusamat Ashiro of Kazakhstan.

Swimming: At the Hangzhou Olympic Sports Centre Acquatic Sports Arena, Pakistan’s poor run in swimming continued. No swimmer could progress to the next round.

In the women’s 50 metre backstroke heats, carrying 29 swimmers, Fatima Adnan Lotia finished at the 27th spot by clocking 35.38 seconds of timing.

In the men’s 50m freestyle heats, featuring 43 participants, Mohammad Ahmed Durrani ended at the 35th spot with a time of 25.05 seconds while Mohammad Hamza Anwar ended at the 38th place with a time of 26.16 seconds.

In the women’s 200m freestyle heats, featuring 23 swimmers, Jehanara Nabi finished at the 17th place with a time of 2 minutes and 11.15 seconds.

In the men’s 100m breaststroke heats, carrying 28 contestants, Mohammad Hamza Anwar finished at the 27th place with a time of one minute and 20.11 seconds.

In the women’s 200m Individual Medley heats, featuring 21 swimmers, Jehanara Nabi finished 18th with a time of two minutes and 34.18 seconds.

In the men’s 4x200m freestyle relay, carrying crews from 13 nations, Pakistan’s crew, featuring Mohammad Amaan Siddiqui, Abbas Azhar, Mohammad Hamza Anwar and Mohammad Ahmed Durrani, finished at the 12th place with a time of eight minutes and 44.27 seconds.

In the men’s 50 metre freestyle heats, featuring 43 swimmers, Mohammad Hamza Anwar finished at the 38th place with a time of 26.16 seconds.

Sailing: In the men’s ILCA 7, featuring 13 sailors, Muzammil Hassan finished at the 11th spot in race-8 and at the 12th place in race-9 with two races left in the same event.

In the 470 class, featuring crews from eight nations, Pakistan’s duo of Nadine Xerxes Avari and Mehboob, finished sixth in the nine race and seventh in the tenth race. They wrapped up the journey at the overall seventh spot.

In the girls ILCA race-9, Zoya Asad Ali ended at the seventh spot before she managed sixth place in the tenth race. Overall she finished seventh in the event.

In the boys ILCA 4 race-9, Javed Raphael was disqualified. He then managed to end at the seventh spot in race-10 with a race to go. He is at the 12th spot overall.

Rowing: At the Fuyang Water Sports Centre, in the men’s singles sculls final B, Pakistan’s Zafar Iqbal Khan finished fifth with a time of 7:44.19, wrapping-up his journey at the 11th spot out of 12 contestants who featured in this event.

In the men’s quadruple Final B Pakistan’s quartet, featuring Muzammil Shehzad, Asad Iqbal, Zahid Iqbal Khan and Amjad Baig, beat the crew of Hong Kong with a time of 6:27.72. However, overall Pakistan got fifth position in the event.