Pakistan fall to India in Asiad squash men’s team finale

LAHORE: Pakistan on Saturday had to content with a silver medal when they were downed by India 2-1 in the 19th Asian Games men’s squash team event final at the Hangzhou Olympic Sports Centre Squash Court 1.

The country’s premier player Nasir Iqbal provided Pakistan with a solid start when he downed India’s Mahesh Mangaonkar inside 29 minutes with 3-0 score-line. The game score remained 11-8, 11-3, 11-2.

However India made a smart fightback when Saurav Ghosal defeated Mohammad Asim Khan 3-0 to level the fixture 1-1.

Asim miserably failed to show any resistance against India’s tough player with Ghosal winning it 11-5, 11-1, 11-3 inside 30 minutes.

And now it was the turn of Noor Zaman to show his guts on the court in the decisive game against Abhay Singh. It was indeed a battle of nerves where Abhay Singh prevailed over Zaman beating him 3-2 in a 64 minutes long nail-biter.

After losing the first set 7-11, Noor fought back strongly and won the next two sets 11-9, 11-8 to give Pakistan 2-1 lead. However Abhay at this stage showed class discipline and won the next two sets 11-9, 12-10 to gift India the title.

Earlier, in the semi-finals on Friday Pakistan’s quartet defeated Hong Kong 2-1.

Noor Zaman took a bright start for Pakistan when he conquered Henry Hen Chi Leung 3-1 with the set score being 12-10, 7-11, 11-6, 11-8.

In the second game Hong Kong fought back as Asim Khan went down to Kwan Tsz Lau 3-2 with the set scores being 8-11, 14-12, 10-12, 11-4 and 11-2 in the Kwan’s favour.

In the third and decisive clash Nasir Iqbal showed his temperament to beat Hong Ming Tang 3-0 to put Pakistan in the final.

The show lasted for 30 minutes.

Now on Sunday (today) Nasir Iqbal will face Natthapat Theerasilp of Thailand in the men’s singles round of 32.

Also in the round of 32 Mohammad Asim Khan will clash with Widjaja Jon Aaron Liang of Singapore. In the mixed doubles Pool A Pakistan 2 will meet India 2. In the women’s singles round of 32 Noor-ul-Ain Ijaz will meet Khulan Purevjav of Mongolia and in the mixed doubles Group D Pakistan 1 will lock horns with India 1.

Athletics: At the Hangzhou Olympic Sports Centre Stadium, in long jump Pakistan’s Mohammad Afzal flopped miserably as he finished at the 18th spot in the first round, featuring 20 jumpers. He recorded 6.73m jump.

In the women’s 100m hurdles Pakistan’s Ghazal Ramzan was eliminated when she clocked 15.43 seconds. She finished overall at the last 15th spot.

In the men’s 1500 metre first round, featuring 21 athletes, Waqas Akbar and Amir Sohail were also eliminated by finishing at the 15th and 17th place, respectively. Waqas clocked 3:58.10 while Amir inked 3:58.70.

As many as 21 athletes took part in the first round.

Pakistan’s fine sprinter Gohar Shahbaz, who had done a great job to qualify for the 100m semi-final on Friday, failed to advance to the final despite pulling off his season’s best time of 10.49. He finished seventh in his heat-1, carrying eight contestants, and overall ended at the 21st spot out of 24 sprinters who showcased their skills in the semi-finals.

In men’s pole vault final Pakistan’s Jaffar Ashraf failed to manage any successful attempt.

On Friday in the women’s 100m heats, Pakistan’s Arooj Kiran finished 17th. Tameen Khan ended 19th in the same event. Pakistan’s Gohar Shahbaz qualified for semis. However the country’s top sprinter Shajar Abbas failed to advance with a time of 10.59 seconds.

In the women’s 400m heats Sahib-e-Asra clocked 55.18 second but failed to qualify for the final. She finished overall at the ninth spot out of 18 contestants. She ended third in her heat where top two had to advance. Boxing: Pakistan’s third boxer Mohammad Qasim was also eliminated when he was undone by China’s Ping Lyu in the 51-57kg round of 16. The Chinese won the fight 5-0.