It's a moment of joy for the nation. There's jubilation all around and people are complimenting each other on the success of the athletes at the XVI Asian Games which concluded in Guangzhou on Saturday.

Sports is a medium which changes the mood of the masses through heroic performance of sportsmen in global events and this is what Pakistan athletes achieved after consistent failures.

China has proved to be a happy hunting ground for Pakistan. It was at Beijing when Pakistan fetched 4 gold, 1 silver and 7 bronze two decades back, their last shining performance which also enabled them to finish sixth on the overall medals table. The five nations which finished above Pakistan were 1- China, 2- South Korea, 3-Japan, 4-North Korea and 5-Iran.

In the recent Asian Games, while it was like a dream come true in hockey, the gold medal feats achieved in other disciplines remain unfulfilled. The medal winners, however, deserve a pat on the back for reviving the good old memories by returning with a bag of 3 gold, 2 silver and 3 bronze medals in Guangzhou, China.

Pakistan, a founding member of the Asian Games movement, once used to be a force to reckon with in track and field, hockey, boxing, wrestling and sailing to name a few. Every Asian Games reminds us of the golden era of Subedar Abdul Khaliq, honorary Capt Ghulam Raziq, honorary Capt Mubarak Shah, Naib Subedar Mohammad Younis and a host of others who brought numerous laurels for the nation.

Khaliq was twice declared 'Fastest Man of Asia' at the second and third Asian Games held at Manila and Tokyo in 1954 and 1958 respectively. Of the 16 quadrennial games, Jakarta (1962) has gone into the annals where Pakistan fetched an all time high 28 medals — 8 gold, 11 silver, 9 bronze.

Hockey It took 16 years to the Pakistan hockey team to climb to the top of the ladder and two decades to recapture Asian Games crown.

Pakistan's 2-0 triumph over Malaysia in the final also earned the green shirts a direct ticket to the 2012 London Olympics.

Penalty corner celebrity Sohail Abbas, a last minute inclusion who came out of his retirement in Jan 2009, and forward Rehan Butt, who was declared the best Asian player by the Asian Hockey Federation in 2008, netted a goal each.

Pakistan overcame last two-time winner South Korea while Malaysia stunned India in the two gruelling semi-finals. Earlier, Pakistan suffered a 2-3 loss at the hands of arch-rivals India in the league match to finish runner-up in the group. This was their fourth defeat against India in 2010.

Incidentally, both the 1994 Sydney World Cup and the 2010 Asian Games victories for Pakistan have come under the Dutch coaches, Hans Jorritsma and Michel van den Heuvel.

The victory that was preceded by consistent decline has also perturbed the former stalwarts and fraternity of the game as they have lost their faith in successive PHF hierarchies, team managements and players. It is pertinent to mention that Pakistan suffered horrible defeats one after the other at the hands of minnows apart from finishing at the lowest ebb (12th) at the Delhi World Cup this year.

Former Olympian full-back Qasim Zia, who succeeded Mir Zafarullah Khan Jamali as PHF chief soon after Beijing Olympics debacle where Pakistan finished a poor eighth, had set his eyes on Asian Games from day one and proved it despite team's poor showing time and again.

Squash Like hockey, squash was also in disarray after the two celebrities Jahangir Khan and Jansher Khan hanged up their rackets but the team event gold and a silver in individual competition has brought Pakistan back on the podium.

Aamir Atlas Khan played a vital role in both the triumphs. After suffering 6-11, 7-11, 6-11 defeat at the hands of Malaysian Mohammad Azlan Iskander in the individual final Khan avenged his defeat as Pakistan beat Malaysia straight to annex the team title which was held first time. The squash individual event became medal sport in the games in 1998 alongside snooker.

Farhan Mehboob put Pakistan ahead beating 2002 and 2006 champion Ong Beng Hee 11-4, 11-4, 11-7 while Aamir sent Azlan Iskander packing 14-12, 15-13, 11-4 to complete the rout.

Cricket While the women's cricket team did wonders by annexing maiden gold, their men's counterparts settled for bronze after being shocked by war-trodden Afghanistan in the semi-final to be out of title race. The Twenty20 version of the game made its debut in the Chinese city.

The courageous Pakistan women's team was home by 10 wickets against Bangladesh in the final to give their country first gold of the games and herald a new dawn for women sports back home.

Contrary to women's scintillating performance, Khalid Latif's men's were shocked by fast improving Afghanistan by 22 runs. In the playoff, Pakistan inflicted six wickets defeat on Sri Lanka to claim bronze.

Bangladesh, however, earned some consolation when they coasted to five wickets victory over Afghanistan to win their first ever Asian Games gold medal.

Wushu Ijaz Ahmed of Gujranwala did Pakistan proud when he grabbed silver in 75kg. Pakistan have also won a bronze in wushu at Doha and the sport needs to be patronise in future.

Snooker The trio of Sohail Shahzad, Imran Shahzad and Shehram Changezi scooped a bronze in the snooker team event while Asian No 2 Mohammad Sajjad and former Asian No 3 Khurram Agha faltered in the singles.

Kabaddi Pakistan went on to enhance their medals tally when Kabaddi team picked up a bronze in the team event. Though it was relegation as compared to 2006 Doha Asiad, yet it is a good omen that they succeeded in getting a bronze.

A 237-member Pakistan contingent featured in 17 disciplines of the Asian Games held for the second time in China after Beijing in 1990. Of these, they annexed medals in six disciplines - hockey, cricket, squash, wushu, snooker and kabaddi while boxing, football, tennis, shooting, sailing, weightlifting, karate, baseball, volleyball, judo and wrestling returned empty handed.

Tennis ace Aisam-ul-haq expressed his inability to accompany the contingent at the eleventh hour due to prior committment in the ITF circuit as a result Aqeel Khan alone represented the country and went down to Japanese opponent straight in the second round.

Unfortunately, three officials accompanied the lone player on a sojourn to China which speaks of our system.

Surprisingly, there was no representation in track and field which was once used to be hallmark of Pakistan.

By and large it's an improved performance when compared to the 2006 Doha Asiad where Pakistan could only win one silver and three bronze. Then the size of the contingent was also much less (144).

In future Pakistan should focus on selected disciplines including athletics which is considered mother of sports instead of wasting foreign exchange on joy riders.