Pakistan end Asian Indoor, Martial Arts Games with 21 medals

ASHGABAT: It was a pathetic day for Pakistani wrestlers as all three who fought in Greco-Roman style competitions failed to put up a fight and exited at the first hurdle at the 5th Asian Indoor and Martial Arts Games here at the Olympic Complex on Tuesday.

Following Pakistan’s failure in freestyle wrestling on Monday, it was expected that the country would pull off something in Greco-Roman style but the three national grapplers were absolute failure which put a question mark on the country’s wrestling standards.

Azhar Hussain, the 2010 Delhi Commonwealth Games gold medallist in freestyle wrestling and silver medallist in Greco-Roman style of the same event, was beaten by Aidas Sultangali of Kazakhstan in the 59 kg pre-quarter-finals within 44 seconds, a 2-0 victory which the Kazakh grabbed on the basis of technical superiority which shows how poorly the 33-year-old Pakistani wrestler competed against his 21-year-old rival.

The classification points of this fight were 4-0 in favour of the Kazakh. Aidas was then beaten by a Kyrgyzstan fighter in quarter-finals.

In 130 kg pre-quarter-finals, Mohammad Umair also offered a disappointing performance and was downed by Sukhroj Azizov of Tajikistan 4-0, classification points. The Tajik scored one point in the first period and added three in the second. The bulky Umair opted to play defensively, which surprised everyone. The fight lasted for eight minutes and 36 seconds.

It was expected that 29-year-old Shoukat Ali would produce something special in the 66kg quarter-finals, but he proved to be the poorest seed of the Pakistan line-up as he was ousted 10-0 within no time by Ui Yamato of Japan.

Pakistan fielded three wrestlers in Olympic freestyle and three in Greco-Roman style wrestling competitions. With the outcome Pakistan ended their journey with 21 medals overall: two gold, three silver and 16 bronze.

The gold medals were won in men’s 4x400m relay (athletics) and ju-jitsu’s men’s duo show with Rafiq Siddiq and Shahzeb Nawaz Janjua sharing the limelight.

Mohammad Adnan (90kg men’s Pahlavani-style wrestling (belt), the pair of Mohammad Ammar and Abu Huraira (men’s duo classic style ju-jitsu) and the pair of Rafiq Siddiq and Komal Emmanuel (mixed duo classic style ju-jitsu) fetched silver medals for Pakistan.

Those who snared bronze in belt wrestling were Mohammad Safdar (men’s 65kg classic style), Mohammad Basit (men’s 100kg freestyle), Ambreen Masih (women’s 60kg, Alysh freestyle), Humaira Ashiq (women’s 50kg classic style), Ambreen Masih (women’s 55kg classic style), Beenish Khan (women’s 70kg classic style), Maryam (women’s 50kg freestyle) and Beenish Khan (women’s 70kg freestyle).

Those who picked bronze in ju-jitsu were Jehanzeb Lone (men’s 56kg newaza), Komal Emmanuel and Sonia Manzoor (women’s duo classic), Komal and Sonia Manzoor (women’s duo show) and Shahzeb Nawaz Janjua and Sonia Manzoor (mixed duo classic).

Saaed Anwar (57kg men’s classic) and Ambreen Masih (58kg women’s freestyle) won bronze in traditional wrestling.The country’s experienced cueist Mohammad Sajjad won bronze in 6-Red men’s singles snooker competitions when he was beaten by Yan Bingtao of China 5-3 in the semi-finals last week.

Maaz Khan, who had won gold in 2010 Dhaka South Asian Games, clinched bronze on Pakistan’s debut in kick-boxing. He lost his 75kg full contact semi-final against Hossein Karami of Iran 0-3 on Monday.

Pakistan fielded seven fighters in kick-boxing which has been a regular feature of the Asian Indoor and Martial Arts Games.

Some national players clinched more than one medal. Ambreen Masih took three bronze, one in traditional and two in belt wrestling. Beenish got two bronze in belt wrestling. Ju-jitsu fighter Sonia Manzoor was part of Pakistan’s bronze medals in women’s duo classic, women’s duo show and mixed duo show. Komal was part of the country’s ju-jitsu bronze in women’s duo classic and women’s duo show besides being part of Pakistan’s silver medal winning mixed duo ju-jitsu competitions in which her partner was Rafiq Siddiq.

Rafiq also shared bronze with Shahzeb in men’s duo show ju-jitsu.The disciplines in which Pakistan failed to win any medal were weightlifting, swimming, taekwondo, Olympic wrestling and tennis.

A 135-member contingent of Pakistan took part in the competitions which will formally close on Wednesday (today). Over 6000 athletes from 65 nations of Asia and Oceania were part of the 12-day campaign.

As the evening session competitions were in progress on Tuesday and the finals in chess, bowling and tennis were to follow on Wednesday (today), Pakistan were overall trailing at the 21st spot.Hosts Turkmenistan were heading the medal chart with 85 gold, 65 silver and 81 bronze. They were followed by China (35-25-23) and Iran (26-18-59).