COLOMBO, Aug 19: Pakistan's weightlifter Usman Akbar led the country to its first gold medal in the South Asia Games here on Saturday.
Usman claimed the top place in the 56 kgs category, lifting an overall weight of 231 kgs and giving Pakistan its first gold of the Games.
Usman lifted 101 kgs in snatch and 130 kgs in jerk to underline his talent and prowess in comparison to the Lankan and Bangladeshi lifters.
Lankan G. N. Emil lifted overall weight of 220 kgs and Akramul Haque of Bangladesh managed 218 kgs.
“It is one of the greatest moments of my life and I will never forget it,” said a jubilant Usman while talking to APP after the medal awarding ceremony.
Pakistan beat Sri Lanka Striker Mubashar Hussain scored the match winning goal two minutes before the close as defending champion Pakistan beat Sri Lanka 1-0 in its opening match football competition at Sugathadasa Stadium.
Both the teams played a goalless first half under light drizzle in front of a packed home crowd. Pakistan though dominated the first half but poor finishing and lack of good passing restricted them from gaining desired results.
In the second half too the Lankans penetrated the tight Pakistani defense to make several attempts on their goal post but custodian Muhammad Shahzad brought off some delightful saves. In the 88th minute, Mubshar salvaged Pakistan’s pride by slamming the ball into the net with a superb kick.
“I am delighted that my team won. It was a close ,” said Pakistan team coach Salman while talking to APP.
Pakistan will take on Maldives on Monday.
SHUTTLERS IN SEMIS
Pakistan moved into the semifinals of the badminton team event defeating Bangladesh 4-1 at the Sugathadasa Sports Complex.
Though Pakistan's top badminton player Wajid Ali lost he opening match, the rest of his colleagues put up impressive show to keep their team in the event. Pakistan won the remaining three matches to gain unassailable lead as Bangladesh did not turn up for the fifth match and the green shirts were awarded a walk over.
Zeehsna Umer, won the second singles and then Zafar Tasneem made it 2-1 by winning the 3rd singles and then Wajid pairing with Waqas Ahmad atoned for his previous loss by leading the side to success wrapping up the tie in favour of Pakistan.
Pakistan will be facing Sri Lanka in the semi finals on Sunday and are likely to meet archrivals India in the final.
Results: Ahsan Habib Parash bt Wajid 21-14,16-21,21-19 Zafar bt Rasel Kabir 21-15,15-21,21-18 Zeeshan bt Mostafa Muhammad 21-14,21-10 Wajid and Waqas bt Mostafa and Mokter Hossain21-23,21-15,21-16.
SWIMMERS BAG 3 MEDALS
Pakistani swimmers put up a rather mediocre performance in the swimming event by managing one silver and two bronze medals out of the seven finals contested here on Sugathadasa Sports Complex pool.
The men swimmers failed to impress in the four events and could win just one silver in 800m free style relay contested by the quartet of Ahmad Nisar, Adil Baig , Firdous Khan, and Mahboob Ali. Mahboob later won a bronze in 400m freestyle Ali but his other colleagues struggled against the Indian, Bangladeshi and Lankan swimmers.
Pakistan’s well-reputed female swimmers disappointed on Saturday in the two finals. Rubab Raza brought some consolation by winning a bronze in 50m free style but Eesha Khan finished at fourth place in the 200m butterfly.
Rubab clocked 29.18 sec. Mehrun Nisa finished at fifth place with a timing of 1m.22.34sec as Sri Lankan Mayumi won the gold (1m.15.84sec) and was followed by Indian Tejaswini who bagged a silver.
Pak oarsmen win 4 silver medals
Pakistan won four silver medals on the opening day of the rowing competition on Saturday. Pakistan's first success came in the double scull in which Maqbool Ali and Ali Hassan returned a timing of 7m.02.66sec behind India's Sunil Kumar and Bajrangal Takhar 6m.43.57sec. Sri Lanka got the bronze.
Pakistani pair of Syed Shajjar Abbas and Muhammad Adeel Sultan grabbed the second silver in coxless pair with a timing of 7m.00.62sec as the Indian duo of Dharmesh Sangwan and Satnish Joshi 6m.49.24sec.
In single scull Muhammad Akram gave Pakistan its third silver by returning a timings of 7m.39.42sec.
In mens four, member Pak team comprising Farasat Ali, Ghulam Nabi, Azmat Javed and Sabir Ahmed clocked 6m.30.23sec as the Indian team of Manoj Augustine, Gurdarshan Singh, Sukhjeet Singh and Jenil Krishan finished in 6m.19.17sec for the gold. Sri Lankan oarsmen claimed the bronze. —APP