Incheon
Defending champions Pakistan beat Sri Lanka 14-0 in their first match of 2014 Asian Games hockey event in Seonhak Hockey Stadium, South Korea.
The new pattern of field hockey with four quarters of 15 minutes instead of two halves of 35 minutes came into play in the match. Pakistan took an unassailable 4-0 lead in the first quarter, opening their account with a field goal and then converting three penalty corners.
The next quarter saw three field goals and two penalty corners netted as Pakistan amassed a 9-0 lead over Sri Lanka. Three more goals were seen in the third quarter, while two goals were scored by Pakistan in the last quarter. Captain M Imran scored four goals, while M Rizwan Senior and M Umar Bhutta bagged hat-tricks. M Irfan scored a brace, while M Waqas and M Tousiq scored one goal apiece.
Pakistan will play China in their next Pool B fixture. China beat Oman 5-0 in other Pool B match on Saturday. Pakistan have won a total of eight gold medals at the Asiads held from 1958 to 2010 and are defending champions. "I think the match with China is very important for us because China is a good team. We also will focus on every match until we reach the final,” Pakistan’s team captain Imran said.
Men’s tennis team victorious: Pakistan had a day of mixed fortunes in Tennis at the 2014 Asian Games as Men's team won 3-0 against Qatar but Women's team went down 0-3 against Hong Kong. Pakistan No2 Sara Mansoor lost 6-0, 6-0 against Eudice Chong while Pakistan No 1 Ushna Suhail was beaten 6-1, 6-1 by Zhang Ling and in doubles Ushna Suhail and Sara Mansoor were defeated 6-0, 6-3 by Venise Chan / Katherine Ip.
Pakistan's men's team was up against a very weak Qatar team comprising World No 2226 Mousa Shanan Zayed and unranked Jabor Mohammad Alu Mutawa. Pakistan's MAbid won 6-2, 6-7, 6-3 against 20-year-old Jabor in 2 hours and 20 minutes to give Pakistan 1-0 lead.
In the second match, Pakistan No1 Aqeel Khan won the first set 6-0 in just 21 minutes against 20-year-old Mousa Shanan Zayed but lost the second set 4-6 as the match was forced into a deciding set. Khan won the third set 6-1 easily to give Pakistan 2-0 lead.
Aqeel and Abid won 6-1, 6-4 in the doubles against Mubarak Shanan Zayed and Ali Abdulreda Alsaygh to complete the 3-0 victory. They will have a very tough task against China in the second round.
Mixed fortunes in Squash: Nasir Iqbal reached the quarterfinals of the Asian Games squash event after defeating Lee Sehyun of South Korea 3-1 in his Round-of 16 match to move one step forward towards the final. Another Pakistani Farhan Mehboob beat Jordan’s Alsarraj M Khalil Ahmed 3-1 in his Round of 32 match and then lost his Round of 16 match 3-0 to Malaysia’s Ong Beng Hee.
Malaysian Beng Hee’s fear of an early exit in the Incheon Asian Games proved unfounded. The 34-year-old star, who had a first-round bye, strolled to an 11-9, 11-6, 11-3 second-round win over Mehboobn.
Beng Hee took only 35 minutes to secure a place in the quarter-finals against Hong Kong’s Au Chun Ming. The Malaysian had lost to Farhan in their last meeting – a first-round encounter at the Asian Championships in 2010. He was apprehensive about Saturday’s encounter, having been in poor form of late and just recovering from a knee injury.
At last month’s Glasgow Commonwealth Games, he was shown an early exit by unheralded Zambian Kelvin Ndhlovu. Beng Hee was surprised by the ease of his win. “I was a little nervous but this win will spur me to try and make the final. “I plan to take one step at a time and not get carried away by this win,” said joint third-fourth seed Beng Hee, the 2002 and 2006 Asiad champion.
Meanwhile, Pakistan shined in the rowing competition too, as the national team obtained fifth spot by completing the distance in 7 minutes and 24.9 seconds in the qualifying round. The men’s volleyball competition wasn’t as much glowing for the green shirts as they were defeated by Kuwait by a score of 3-0.