JAKARTA: While Pakistan secured their third medal here at the Asian Games on Monday when Arshad Nadeem clinched bronze in javelin throw event, most of country’s athletes of other disciplines continued to fare poorly at the continental gala.
The 21-year-old Arshad from Khanewal won the bronze medal hitting the mark of 80.75 metres, with six attempts of 73.52, 76.73, 72.20, 80.75, 77.56 and 72.20.
India’s Neeraj Chopra (88.05) won javelin’s gold medal while Liu Qizhen (82.22) of China seized silver.
By winning the bronze in Jakarta, Arshad from Khanewal bettered his personal best — which is also Pakistan’s national record — from 80.45 metres he achieved in the qualification round at this year’s Commonwealth Games held on Gold Coast, Australia in April.
Country’s boxers continue to falter
Last year, Arshad seized bronze medal at the Islamic Solidarity Games staged in Baku where he recorded a mark of 76.33 metres. In 2016, he bagged two bronze medals, first at the South Asian Games organised in the Indian city of Guwahati and then at the Asian Junior Championships held in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam.
Prior to Arshad’s bronze, Pakistan had secured two medals at the ongoing Asiad — both bronze — in karate and kabaddi.
The 19-year old Nargis from Hazara bagged the first medal for the country when she claimed bronze overcoming Nepal’s Rita Karki in 68+ kg category. Pakistan’s men managed to secure bronze medal, the country’s first at the Asian gala, when they lost 27-24 to South Korea in the kabaddi semi-final.
Meanwhile, Pakistan’s poor show at the Asian Games boxing event continued.
Naqeebullah has clinched the only two victories for Pakistan in the event so far. He beat Majid al-Naqbi of the UAE 3-0 in the men’s bantamweight 60kg round-of-32 bout and went on to clinch a 3-2 win over Bhutan’s Nima Dorji in the last-16 fight.
Mohibullah lost to Powei Tu of Chinese Taipei 1-4 in the men’s 49kg light flyweight fight.
India’s Pavitra was awarded victory over Pakistan’s Rukhsana Perveen when the referee stopped their 60kg round-of-16 bout.
Hyunsuk Lim of South Korea beat Suleman Baloch 5-0 in the men’s light welterweight 64kg round-of-16 fight while India’s Krishan Vikas blanked Tanveer Ahmed 5-0 in the men’s middleweight 75kg last-16.
Syed Asif was thrashed 5-0 by Scotland’s Reece McFadden while Awais Ali Khan was eliminated by Ato Plodzicki Faoagali of Samoa by the same score.
In karate, Pakistan’s Saadi Ghulam Abbas lost the men’s 75kg bronze medal bout.
He lost the fight to Saudi Arabia’s Raef Adel Alturkistani 4-2 in the semi-final.
The Saudi fighter scored four yukos while his Jordanian counterpart had two yukos to his name.
Earlier in the round-of-16, Abbasi had beaten Hamza Abulheifa 3-0. He went on to subdue Qassim Ghavidel 6-1 of Qatar in the quarter-final. He then overcame Malaysia’s Sharmendran Raghonathan 10-5.
In squash team event, Pakistan’s men took a flying start when they recorded victories against Japan and Nepal in their opening-day matches in Jakarta on Monday.
Pakistan’s squash contingent includes four male players, four women players and three officials.In their first pool ‘A’ match, Pakistan registered a 2-1 victory against Japan, and then blanked Nepal 3-0 in their second pool.Pakistan’s women however lost both their team event matches 3-0 on Monday, at the hands of Malaysia and South Korea.
Meanwhile, Pakistan’s baseball team defeated Thailand 8-1 at the Jakarta Rawamangun Baseball Field.
Published in Dawn, August 28th, 2018
