LAHORE - Pakistan’s Ghazanfar Ali outpointed Philippines John Paul Lizardo 14-12 to reach the last eight where he fell to his Korean opponents quite unceremoniously in men's -54kg taekwondo event of the 17th Asian Games Incheon, South Korea on Friday.
The last sixteen bout between Ghazanfar and John was fiercely contested as both the players hit each other freely to earn points. Both remained tied in first round 1-1 as Ghazanfar was awarded a penalty point for John’s fouls while John got the point by hitting Ghazanfar on chest with a kick. John took 10-8 lead in the second round but Ghazanfar bounced back in third round to win the it by 6-2 to seal the fate of the match 14-12. Both the players also committed a lot of fouls as they conceded four penalty points each. However, Ghazanfer got 10 point by attack as compared to John’s eight points, which proved decisive.
But a tired Ghazanfar failed to coup with the technique and agility of his South Korean opponent Taehun Kim. Kim beat away Ghazanfar in three rounds with his superb kicks on Ghazanfar’s chest and head to take a comfortable 13-1 victory. The only point came for Ghazanfar was a penalty point awarded him due to the foul play of Kim while he himself failed to score any.
In women -73 kg round of 16, Binti Md Jaafar Nurulain of Brunei Darussalam beat Najia Rasool of Pakistan on a golden point 3-2 in a closely-contested bout. Both the players were locked 2-2 in the regular three rounds. The Brunei’s fighter hit her Pakistani opponent with two powerful kicks in each of the first two rounds to take 2-0 lead. But Najia reduced the margin in the second round with a kick on her opponent’s chest. Nurulain committed a foul in the second round to get a warning. In third round, she committed foul again and thus Najia was awarded a point that tied the match at 2-2. In the fourth round, it was Nurulain who succeeded to kick Najia hard first to earn the decisive golden point.
POOR PERFORMANCE IN KARATE EVENTS: Ramon Antonino Franco of Philippines beat M Kashif of Pakistan 9-1 in the men's -55kg 1/8 final of karate event. There was a huge gap between the points of both the players which showed the superiority of the Philippino judoka. Roman got three points with an ippon and six yuko points with some solid punches on Kahif, who could manage only one yuko point.
In the women's -68kg 1/8 final, one lucky punch of Pegah Zangenehkarkooti of Iran proved enough for her to register a one-point victory over Pakistan’s Kulssom. Pegah got one yuko point while Kulsoom could not get any in the bout.
MEN, WOMEN KARATE EVENTS TODAY: In the karate event, M Ramzan of Pakistan will take on Theerapat Kangtong of Thailand in the men's -84kg 1/8 final today (Saturday) while Pakistan’s Benish will vie against China’s Ching Cheung in the women's -50kg 1/8 final.