Pakistan’s Ibrahim goes down against Iraq’s Hamdan

LAHORE: Pakistan’s promising boxer Ibrahim faced an early exit when he lost 57-63.5 kg round of 16 bout to Iraq's Hamdan Ali Qasim Al Sarray in the 19th Asian Games in Hangzhou on Wednesday which was another bad day for the nation in the quadrennial event.

Iraqi boxer won the fight 5-0.

Ibrahim had got bye in the first round.

“Ibrahim played well. He showed good fitness and fought till the end but it was lack of experience which hurt him,” Pakistan’s boxing coach Arshad Hussain told ‘The News’ from Hangzhou.

It was the debut event for Ibrahim.

The other day Mohammad Qasim made a solid international debut when he downed Nawwaf Alzahmi of the UAE 5-0 in 51-57kg round of 32.

Qasim will play in the pre-quarter-finals on September 30.

Pakistan's major medal hope and the Asian bronze medallist Zohaib Rasheed will begin his 46-51kg journey on Thursday (today) when he meets Sultan Alnuaimi of the UAE in the round of 16.

“Zohaib has a great chance against the UAE fighter,” Arshad said.

Arshad has done hard work over Zohaib’s skills and it is expected that he will appear as a different boxer in Hangzhou.

Swimming: At the Hangzhou Olympic Sports Centre Aquatic Sports Arena, the pathetic run of national swimmers continued.

In the women's 100 metre butterfly heats, carrying 25 swimmers, Pakistan's Ameena Ameer Qadri finished at the 25th spot with a time of 1:17.99.

In the men's 100m butterfly heats, carrying 29 swimmers, Pakistan's Azhar Abbas finished at the 26th spot with a time of 1:02.70.

In the women's 100 metre backstroke heats, carrying 27 swimmers, Pakistan's Fatima Adnan Lotia finished at the last 27th spot by clocking 1:19.22.

In the men's 200m freestyle heats, featuring 36 swimmers, Pakistan's Mohammad Amaan Siddiqui finished at the 31st place with a time of 1:59.77.

In the mixed 4x100 metre medley relay heats, carrying 15 nations, Pakistan finished at the 14th spot with a time of 4:46.07 and so failed to qualify for the finals.

Pakistan was represented in the event by Fatima Adnan Lotia, Mohammad Hamza Anwar, Mohammad Ahmed Durrani and Jehanara Nabi.

Table Tennis: Pakistan also did not show any sting in table tennis event.