LAHORE: Wrestler Azhar Hussain, who bagged a gold and a silver medal in the last Commonwealth Games in India last month, has been assigned the duty to carry the national flag while leading Pakistan contingent of 237 athletes and officials during the opening and closing ceremonies of the 16th Asian Games to be held in Guangzhou, China from November 12 to 27.

Azhar earned country's first gold medal in the Commonwealth Games after defeating an Indian wrestler Anuj Kumar in the 55kgs freestyle category. He seized silver in the Greco-Roman style wrestling to boost the nation after heavy flood had ravaged three provinces of Pakistan.

Learning its lesson from the ugly flag-bearing controversy in the CW Games, the Pakistan Olympic Association (POA) has clearly instructed the players, officials and the organizers that Azhar would lead the contingent as it has always been right of an athlete to perform the honour.

Pakistan will contest the Asian Games in 17 disciplines including baseball, snooker, boxing, hockey, judo, kabaddi, karate, sailing, shooting, squash, tennis, volleyball, weightlifting, wrestling, wushu, cricket (men and women) and football.

Pakistan have medal hopes in cricket, hockey, judo, snooker, squash, wushu and baseball. The judo officials are also pinning hopes on their players, considering their performances in the Asian Championship where they earned a couple of medals.

Similarly, in squash, the presence of Aamir Atlas and Farhan Mahboob is quite reassuring for Pakistan as the two may fetch a medal for the country between them.

In weightlifting, Shuja-ud-Din Malik has not been selected on fitness ground and only Abdullah Ghafoor and Mati-ur-Rehman will be representing the country.

In wrestling, Mohammad Inam, who also earned a gold in the Commonwealth Games with Mohammad Ali are in the squad besides Azhar. The thinnest participation is in karate where only one player Abbas Saadi is going.

The Federal Sports Ministry is bearing all expenses of the contingent, except for football and cricket, since both are the richest bodies in the country.

Hockey is the country's third richest body but the government is bearing its expenses because it has strong chances of making the podium. The government has refused to entertain football due to its poor performance in the last back-to-back South Asian level competitions in which it finished very low.

However, the PFF decided to take part in the games even at their own expenses to get some exposure at international level.

In the contingent, 12 officials have also been included with Federal Sports Minister Aijaz Hussain Jakhrani going as chef de mission. President Asif Ali Zardari, who will also be in China at the time, will attend the opening ceremony of the games.

In the last Asian Games, held in Doha, Qatar, Pakistan's performance was very ordinary as it could claim only one silver and two bronze medals.

A breakdown of the contingent is as follows:

Baseball (three officials, 18 players), snooker (two officials, five athletes), boxing (three officials, eight athletes), hockey (seven officials, 18 athletes), judo (two officials, six athletes), kabaddi (three officials, 12 athletes), karate (one athlete), sailing (four officials, 14 athletes), shooting (two officials, 12 athletes), squash (two officials, eight athletes), tennis (one official, two athletes), volleyball (three officials, 12 athlete), weightlifting (one official, two athletes), wrestling (two officials, three athletes), wushu (two officials, four athletes), cricket (men, five officials, 15 athletes), women (four officials, 14 athletes), football (five officials, two athletes).