LAHORE - Syed Maratab Ali Monday assured Pakistan at least one bronze medal by booking berth in the men’s sanda -70kg semi-finals of the 17th Asian Games wushu competitions in Incheon, South Korea.
Maratab Ali outclassed Nurlanbek Mamataliev of Kyrgyzstan 2-0 in the -70kg quarterfinals. He will face Kun Zhang of China in the semi-finals today (Tuesday).
Pakistani players Monday disappointed the entire nation in almost all the events except wushu. They finished poorly in most of the events and most of the players’ way to podium was also stopped.
Abdullah of Pakistan, who was Pakistan’s medal prospect, was badly beaten by India’s Narender Grewal 2-0 in the men’s sanda – 60kg quarterfinal while Pakistan’s Ruskhana Hanif was beaten by Ly Thi Tan of Vietnam 1-0 in the women’s –60kg quarterfinal. Pakistan’s Obaidullah was also defeated in the men’s –65kg quarterfinal by Salaheddin Bayramov of Turkmenistan.
FOOTBALLERS GO DOWN FIGHTING AGAINST CHINA: In football event of the Asian Games, China narrowly beat Pakistan 1-0 to join Hong Kong and Uzbekistan in clinching a place in the men’s football knockout round. Chang Feiya of China scored the match-winning goal in the 20th minute to help his team in booking berth in the knockout round. In Group B, Vikor Shodiev scored twice as Uzbekistan beat Afghanistan 5-0 to claim top spot, while all the goals came in the second half as Hong Kong beat Bangladesh 2-1 to get the second qualifying spot.
JUDOKA HUSSAIN DISAPPOINTS: Pakistan's medal prospect Shah Hussain also disappointed the nation as he finished fifth in the 100kg judo competition. Shah Hussain was pitted against world no 12 Sayidov Ramziddin of Uzbekistan in the bronze medal fight and was beaten by his opponent. Though Shah has played well in the entire event as in his first fight, he defeated M Tawafiq Bakhshi of Afghanistan in 1:55 minutes time in Pool-A -100kg category yet unfortunately, Shah lost quarterfinal against Kazakhstan's Takov Maxim in the-100Kg after giving a tough time of 2:20 minutes and secured third fight with Turkmenistan's Nuraly Yalkapov after beating him with 4:34 time interval.
SHOOTERS, SWIMMERS HIT BOTTOM: In the 10m air riffle women’s shooting qualification, Pakistan’s Minhal Sohail finished 22nd with total of 412.3 points while Nadira Raees finished 53rd out of 54 competitors with 390.7 points.
In the women’s 50m butterfly - heat 3, Areeba Sheikh of Pakistan finished last among six competitors with 31.52 seconds, 5.06 seconds behind the China’s Ying Lu, who won the event while Simrah Naseem failed to start. In the men’s 50m breaststroke - heat 4, M Asif finished last among eight with the time of 31.49 seconds, 6.45 seconds behind the winner Jiayu Xu of China. In women’s 100m freestyle - heat 1, Pakistan’s Soha Sanjrani failed to start. Areeba Sheikh of Pakistan finished seventh among eight competitors with time of 1:06.52 seconds, 30.81 seconds behind the winner of Miki Uchida of Japan. In men’s 200m individual medley – heat 1, Nisar Ahmad of Pakistan failed to start.
LIFTER, CYCLIST FAIL UNCEREMONIOUSLY: In men’s 69kg weightlifting – group B, Abu Sufyan finished 16th among 23 with total of 248kg weight. He lifted 113 snatch and 135 in clean and jerk. Winner Qingfeng Lin of China hoisted total of 342kg weight, 100kg more than the Pakistani. In the track cycling qualifiers, M Shakeel of Pakistan finished 21st.
DOUBLE SHOW AGAINST JAPAN TODAY: Pakistan will face Japan in Asian Games baseball opener today (Tuesday). The green shirts finished fifth in the last Asiad held in Guangzhou (China) four years ago. But they are hoping to improve standing in the eight team competition. Pakistan's lone win in the last games was against Hong Kong. They are drawn in comparatively group A with Japan, China and Mongolia while defending champion South Korea, 2010 silver medalist Chinese Taipei, Hong Kong and Thailand placed in group B. Pakistan will be pitted against Mongolia on September 24 and following day, they clash China in their last group outing. After the round robin league, which concludes on Sept 25, the semifinals will be played on September 27 and playoff for the bronze medal and final will be staged on September 28. Pakistan volleyball will vie against will be clashing against Japan team.
Defending champion Pakistan squash team will take on Qatar in the first round match today (Tuesday). Pakistan squash players were badly beaten in both male and female individual categories and now in the team event too, their chances to defend the title look bleak.