12 April 2005	Tuesday	02 Rabi-ul-Awwal 1426

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JEDDAH, April 11: Pakistani swimmers continued their dismal performances in the 1st Islamic Countries Solidarity Games at the GPYW pool, Jeddah on Tuesday. They competed in two more events but failed miserably. Mumtaz Ahmed and Mehboob Ali competed in the 200 metres freestyle with the former finishing fifth and the latter third in their respective heats. Mumtaz clocked two minutes 05.18seconds while Mehboob covered the distance in two minutes 05.92 seconds.

Later in the 4x100 metres freestyle, quartet of Mehboobi, Muhammad Hameer, Sikandar Khan and Adil Beg clocked three minutes 56.31 seconds to claim fifth place in their heat and overall they were at the 9th .

The Pakistanis will compete in four more events on Wednesday.

Muhammad Faiz will represent the country in the 100 metres freestyle, Mehboob Ali will contest in the 400metres freestyle, Abdul Aziz is to contest in 100 metre breaststroke and Ali Gul in 100metres butterfly.

So far Pakistan had qualified only in one final the 4x200 relay and eventually finished seventh.

KARATE

Pakistan also failed to put up a good performance in the karate event at Madinah and like the first two days lost both events held on Tuesday.

Farhan Ahmed and Agha Mohammad missed out on medals in 80 kgs and minus 80kgs categories

Pakistan will take part in the last event the team kumite to be held on Wednesday.

TOP BILLING FOR Aisam

Pakistan top tennis star Aisamul Haq Qureshi and Aqeel Khan received byes on the basis of their rankings in the individual event.

The tennis event is scheduled to begin at King Fahad Sport City, Taif, from Tuesday.

“Our players are ranked number one-and two and will not play in the first round”, declared coach Rashid Malik.

He said that according to the draws in the team events Pakistan with Somalia, Azerbaijan and Tajkistan are placed in one group.

“The pool is tough as Azerbaijan and Tajikistan are two good teams while Somalia are not so formidable”, he said.

He said that Pakistan was likely to face Somalia in the opener as the final draws about the matches would be held in the evening.

The decision whether the team and individual events will start simultenously will be taken in the evening, he said.

“The morale of the boys is high and I do hope they will come up to the expecations”, he said.

He said that the players had adjusted themselves well on the hard courts and they were ready to give positive results.

“If both remained fit I am confident of gold medal, despite both Azerbaijan and Tajikistan had some top players in their ranks and it would be a good contest, coach said.

In all, 22 teams are taking part in the competition and have been divided into five groups.