Pakistan shooters secure two silver medals

KARACHI: Pakistan failed to win any gold medal on the seventh day of South Asian Games in India on Thursday, but the shooters from the country clinched two silver medals.

The women’s shooting team won silver in 50m rifle prone event by scoring 1805.4. Nadira Raees scored 607.1, Nazish Khan 599.7, and Nadia Rashid 598.6.

The men’s team secured silver in 50m rifle prone event by scoring 1838.2. Umar Siddiq scored 618.5, Ali Midrar 613.6, and Mohammad Amir 606.1.

Umar Siddiq claimed bronze in 50m rifle prone men (individual) event by scoring 182.2.

Pakistan grabbed bronze medal in men’s 4x400 meter relay event with timing of 3:14.82.

Liaquat Ali captured bronze medal in men’s 200m run with timing of 21.53, and Mohammad Afzal won bronze medal in men’s triple jump with score of 15.76.

Mohammad Waseem took bronze in men’s shot put with score of 16.28, and Mahboob Ali bagged bronze in men’s 400m hurdles with timing of 52.04.

On Wednesday, Pakistan’s squash players faltered in the team events and lost both men and women finals to India.

Nasir Iqbal lost to Saurav Ghosal 7-11, 8-11, 7-11 in the first singles and Farhan Zaman was stunned by Kush Kumar 3-11, 8-11, 10-12 in the second singles.

Danish Atlas won against Ravi Dixit 11-3, 11-8, 6-11, 11-6 in the third singles.

In the women’s finals, Joshana Chinappa defeated Maria Toor Pakai 11-8, 4-11, 11-5, 11-9 and Sunayna Kuruvilla beat Sammer Anjum 10-12, 11-7, 11-7, 8-11, 11-6. But Dipika Karthik surrendered her match against Sadia Gul.

“This is very bad performance from Pakistan’s team,” said a local coach. “It is really sad. It is unbelievable that Farhan lost to Kush Kumar,” he added.

Pakistan stood third with 72 medals: seven gold, 22 silver, and 43 bronze.

India stayed on the top with its medal tally reaching 237: 139 gold, 78 silver, and 20 bronze.

Sri Lanka remained second as its number of medals rose to 151: 25 gold, 50 silver, 76 bronze.

Bangladesh (55 medals), Nepal (32) and Afghanistan (15) occupy the fourth, fifth and sixth positions in the eight-team games.  The Maldives and Bhutan have three and five medals, respectively.