Lahore/ISLAMABAD - Pakistan male and female squash players squeezed into the semifinals of the 12th South Asian Games singles, after carving out contrasting victories against their respective opponents in the quarterfinals on Saturday in Guwati.
In male quarterfinals, Farhan Zaman beat Ravindu H Laksiri of Sri Lanka 3-0, winning 11-4, 16-14, 11-9, second seed Nasir Iqbal thrashed Arhant Keshar Simha of Nepal 3-0, winning 11-4, 12-10, 11-0. Now Farhan faces stiff challenge of top seed Saurav Ghosal in the semis, while Nasir takes on another local lad Harinder Pal Sandhu in the second semifinal.
In the females, Sadia Gul routed Sri Lankan Naduni Gunawardane 3-0, winning 11/4, 11/4, 11/4, while second seed Maria Toorpakai Wazir outclassed Bhavana Sunwar of Nepal 3-0, winning 11/4, 11/2, 11/3. Sadia Gul will play against top seed Indian Joshana Chinappa, while Maria will face Sri Lankan Mihilya Methsarani in the semi-finals today (Sunday).
Pakistan Squash Federation (PSF) honorary secretary Group Captain Amir Nawaz said: “Our hard work and players’ performance looked quite satisfactory. I am sure if they play like this, they will carve out victories in the semifinals despite playing against tougher opponents.”
Pakistani wrestlers also performed well in the Games and managed to win two silver medals in 57kg and 65 kg beating their respective rivals.
M Bilal played exceptionally in 57kg weight category and downed Sri Lanka 10-0 in the main round match to qualify for the semifinal where he crushed Bangladesh wrestler 10-0 to enter the final. He couldn’t continue his superb form in the final and lost his bout against the Indian wrestler to earn silver medal.
In 65kg weight category, Pakistan’s Nadir downed Nepali wrestler 10-0 to qualify for the final where once again the Pakistani was restricted by the Indian wrestler to clinch gold as he had to content with silver medal.
Pakistan Wrestling Federation (PWF) secretary M Arshad Sattar lauded the performances of Pakistan wrestlers and said: “I feel pleasure that our players managed to win two silver medals in the South Asian Games. We still have chances to win gold as we have five more bouts and today (Sunday), our key player M Inam (86kg) and Abdul Wahab (61kg) will try their best to win gold for the country.”