MELBOURNE, March 24: Pakistan’s Meherullah will meet England’s Francis Stephen Smith in the final of featherweight 57 kgs contest here on Saturday. Meher, Asian Games gold medalists, is a strong gold medal prospect in view of his sterling performance which he showed in the earlier bouts.
“I am fully ready for the fight and am confident to win the gold,” said Meher while talking to APP after a training session. Reaching the final has already assured Meher a silver.
“The final is always a tough, no matter it is of Asia or Commonwealth Games, but I am set to take on the challenge and I will be fighting till the last drop of my energy to secure my country a gold,” he said.
If Meher wins it will be the second gold medal for Pakistan to be achieved in the ongoing Games before scooping the Gold in weightlifting through Shuja ud Din Malik who also created a new Games record in 85kgs snatch and jerk.
Shooters flop AGAIN
Pakistan’s top shooter Khurram Inam failed to give impressive show in men’s skeet event when he finished on poor 24th on Friday.
According to the details made available here, as many as 28 shooters took part on day one of qualification round of the event with Olympian Khurram finishing ahead of just four shooters with a total of 41 points.
In the center fire pistol qualification rounds, Pakistan’s Irshad Ali took sixth position with 578 points while his compatriot, Tabassum competing in the same event, finished 11th with 563 points.
Singapore’s Ming Ong Shaw topped the competition followed by Gregory Yelavich (New Zealand) and Samaresh Jung (India) on second And third position respectively.
ATLAS-KHAYAL BEATEN
Pakistan squash pair Aamir Atlas Khan and Khayal Mohammad Khan failed to enter the last eight stages of the doubles event when they were thrashed by New Zealand’s duo in the pre quarterfinals on Friday.
According to details made available, Campbell Grayson and Martin Knight did not allow much room to the Pakistani pair and dominated the match to snatch victory in the knockout stage of the event.
Winning the first game 9-7 after tough resistance from the Pakistanis, the Kiwis adopted an aggressive posture to take the next two games 9-3, 9-6 advancing into the quarterfinals of the event.
Earlier, the Pakistanis defeated Sri Lankans Yassir Issadeen and Navin Samrasinghe while losing against Dan Jenson and David Palmer from Australia in league matches.—Agencies