INCHEON: Pakistan’s boxers Nadir Baloch and Ahmed Ali made a winning start as the boxing event began at the Asian Games on Wednesday while the women’s cricket team began their title defence by hammering Thailand to reach the semi-finals.

On a largely satisfying day for the men in green in Incheon, Pakistan’s baseball team dismantled Mongolia for their first win in the event while the men’s squash team recorded their second straight victory.

The women’s squash team, however, had a disappointing day when they lost to both China and India while at the Yeorumul Tennis Courts the women’s doubles tennis team of Sara Mansoor and Ushna Suhail lost to India’s Shweta Rana and Rishika Sunkara.

Aqeel Khan, Pakistan’s top-ranked men’s tennis player, however started off on a winning note by defeating Saudi Arabian Ammar Al Haqbani 6-4, 6-2 to set up a second-round meeting with Taiwan’s Lu Yen-hsun.

There were other victories on Wednesday as well for Pakistan with the men’s doubles badminton team of Mohammad Irfan Saeed Bhatti and Umer Zeeshan won 2-0 over Macau in the round-of-32. Irfan also won his round-of-64 singles match against Nepal’s Ratna Jit Tamang 2-1.

Also at the Gyeyang Gymnasium, Palwasha Bashir defeated Aishath Afnan Rasheed 2-0 in their women’s singles round-of-32 match.

Palwasha’s team-mate Mahnoor Shahzad, however, suffered a 2-0 reverse to Nitchaon Jindapol of Thailand while the duo combined to lose 2-0 to Macau in the round-of-32 match in the women’s doubles event.

At the Chungju Tangeum Lake Rowing Centre, Pakistan’s Abdul Rehman finished ninth in the lightweight men’s single sculls while weightlifter Mohammad Habib Asghar lifted a total of 277kg to finish 11th in the 85kg event.

The day’s highlight, however came at the Seonhak Gymnasium where Nasir and Ahmed both won.

Nadir defeated Phub Sigyel of Bhutan by a single point in their round-of-32 bout in the 56kg category.

PAKISTAN’S Syed Maratib Shah (second R) poses with his bronze medal at the medal ceremony for the sanda -70kg wushu competition alongside gold medallist Zhang Kun of China, South Korean silver medallist Yoo Sang-hoon (L) and fellow bronze medallist Sajjad Abbasiamir (R) of Iran on Wednesday.—AP

After winning the first round, Nadir won the second to take a 20-18 points lead but although Sigyel won the final round 10-9, the Pakistan boxer won to advance to a fight against India’s Shiva Thapa.

In the 64kg category, Ahmed outpointed Ali Al Mazafar 30-27, clearly enjoying better reach and technique to overpower his Kuwaiti opponent but suffering a cut on his eyebrow.

“Ahmed will be needing a couple of stitches but he will be ready for his second round bout,” Pakistan’s team manager Iqbal Husssain said.

SETTLING DOWN

Over at the Yeonhui Cricket Ground, Nain Abidi and Asamvia Iqbal displayed outstanding performances as the women’s cricket team defeated minnows Thailand by 51 runs.

Nain’s run-a-ball 40 helped Pakistan make 97-5 in the match reduced to 14 overs due to rain before Asmavia took 2-6 as Thailand were restricted to 46-7 with captain Sana Mir saying the team was settling down.

“We are trying to settle down in the new environment and will hopefully improve with the passage of time,” Sana said. “It wasn’t easy to play in difficult conditions due to rains.”

Pakistan’s men’s squash team, however, seems to have settled down as they recorded another win in pool ‘A’.

A day after beating Qatar 3-0, Pakistan defeated hosts South Korea by the same scoreline despite coach Jamshed Gul resting top-ranked Nasir Iqbal.

Farhan Zaman dropped his third game before chalking out a 11-5, 11-7, 9-11, 11-8 victory in 38 minutes over Lee Seung-joon.

Danish Atlas Khan recorded a 10-12, 11-6, 11-8, 15-13 victory over Hwang before Farhan Mehboob outplayed Yo Yaejin 11-0, 13-11, 11-5.

On the women’s side, Maria Toorpakai gave Pakistan the lead against China when she won 11-8, 11-9, 11-3 against Li Dong but defeats for team-mates Muqqadas Ashraf and Sara Anjum meant they lost the tie 1-2.

India, however, proved to be a much stronger opposition as they enjoyed a 3-0 romp over their arch-rivals.

Dipika Pallikal came from two games down to beat Maria 8-11, 7-11, 12-10, 11-9, 11-6 while Joshana Chinappa and Aparajitha Balamurukan enjoyed straightforward victories over Muqa­ddas and Riffat Khan respectively.

Elsewhere, at the Munhak Baseball Stadium, Pakistan registered their first win in pool ‘A’ when they routed Mongolia 25-0.

After a slow start Pakistan dominated the match by winning four innings at a trot. After scoring just one run in the first innings they scored 8, 5 and 11 in the last three to outclass Mongolia.

Published in Dawn, September 25th , 2014