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Pakistan's Olympic dream comes to an end as Rabia Ashiq bows out
Rabia Ashiq was the last one to reach the finish line in the 800m race.
Rabia Ashiq takes part in her women's 800m round 1 heat at the London 2012 Olympic Games at the Olympic Stadium. PHOTO: REUTERS
LONDON: Pakistan’s last hope of bringing an Olympic medal home was lost after Rabia Ashiq was the last one to reach the finish line in the 800m race, Express News reported on Wednesday.
Ashiq could only manage 2:17, the last in her heat. The athlete’s personal best stands at 2:10, which she recorded at the Asian Grand Prix in May.
The female runner had told The Express Tribune that she was training hard and was looking forward to the competition.
Ashiq was one of the two runners from Pakistan participating in the London Olympics. Sprinter Liaqat Ali, the other Pakistani runner, made a quick exit from the men’s 100m as he finished fourth in the preliminary round and was unable to progress into the heats.
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Well done Rabia! We are proud of you! :)
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did we have a dream? we already knew the reality
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Well done Rabia. You are an inspiration to all of us and especially to the female athletes of Pakistan. The nation is proud of you. Train hard and focus on your next challenge. Inshallah, you will be successful.
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Good luck next time.
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Pakistan’s sorry performance in the Olympics, despite a massive population, speaks to the sorry state of governance and infrastructure in our country.
While the failures here are in athletics, the malaise of poor infrastructure and facilities plagues almost every single field – education, research, industry and sports. There is no question that natural talent exists, but Pakistanis are not some special breed of homo sapiens in that we are the only country blessed with natural talent – it is the nations that invest in their people and nurture and grow the natural talent of their citizens that are excelling in the world today, be it in science, technology, education, health or sports.
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something is fundamentally wrong with our sports!!!
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Amazing achievement! Everyone in Pakistan should be proud of this girl. Looking forward to her doing us proud in the future!
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At least the girl tried, which is much better than sitting home as a spectator.
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It is instructive to read how the leading countries foster and train talent and how big a part sports science plays in their remarkable medals haul, e.g., British Cycling even changed the way they wash their hands in an effort to operate at peak performance.
Pakistan has to do better.
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Good Job! Atleast she represented Pakistan!
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Still proud of us all the men and women represented us in Olympics- More Love!
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No problem girl, defeat is the first step towards success. Thumbs up for you for representing Pakistan =)
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It was expected..
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Nothing unexpected
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That was a great try – lets keep trying and developing more professional sports facilities for all Pakistanis men and women and those from different backgrounds – Pakistan has around 180 million people and great potential pool of olympian athletes.
Well done all and well done especially to the Women Muslim olympians – you have and are trying your best – May Allah make you better atheletes and succeed more on the world stage.
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She participated and represented Pakistan in a positive way. what if she couldn’t succeed.. she tried at least.
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Only economy is the key of success. Why China and America are at the top of table. Think….!!!
So choose a better leader for your country….Recommend
Proof that God has no interest in sports. All our prayers went useless!!!!
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Rabia, you have tried your best and that counts a lot to us Pakistani Americans.Keep up the good work, Pakistanis are proud of you and job well done.Thank you for being there to represent Pakistani girls.You are the one who is opening the doors for other girls.
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India has done much better this time with atleast 4 medals. shame on us for coming last.
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Shaabaash!!!! Chalo koi baat nahi. Pack your bags and get back to home land. It was indeed a great trip / outing for you people. khao pio ayeeh kro, mooj masti kro. There is nothing in medals. Those people are foolish and mad who work hard and won medals BUT you are pakistanis and you are neither foolish nor mad, I know. Its really a good feeling that you are unable won even a single medal. Shaabaash mere Pakistanio!!!
Best of luck for next Olympics in which you are gonna perform the same!!!
Here is your best performance award: http://www.london2012.com/country/pakistan/medals.html
CONGRATS!!!
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She should be applauded for what she did, running half a mile (0.8km) in little over 2 minutes is not easy. However, it would have been better had she ran to her potential or better (2:10), Athletics is one thing that keeps you honest, you cannot hope for the better result than you trained for. It appears that her training and race strategy was lacking 7 sec is a big variation for 800m. Hopefully she learn something there which will help her improve to the next level and do better in local and SAF games level, and many others (young and old) get inspiration to start running and find out that what they have been missing in their life.
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I have respect for her. I watched on TV that she has a very humble background and was a cyclist. After injury in 2007 she had to switch to athletics. This performance is still very incredible taking into account all the hardships.
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good luck next time….we made it to olympics ppl !!
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What is Imrans Khan agenda for sports? heard he will make Pakistan cricket champion, squash champ, olympic and commonwealth champ in 35 days
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cant believe people are proud of all those athletes who finished last in Olympics but when it comes to cricket and almost every other sphere of life everyone criticizes bad performances. Personally I think it is a shame that Pakistan has not won a medal in the Olympics since Barcelona 1992, even though we have sport ministries, federations, standing committees and huge bureaucracies to support them. i think we should abolish these bureaucracies and use the money to buy our school kids some sports facilities
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So, what if Pakistan could not win a single medal ? We should take pride and happiness from the victories of other muslims, irrespective of their countries. We all belong to one brotherhood.
Let’s not forget the greatest athlete of all time and the fastest man on the planet is from our Ummah, Hussain Bolt !!
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@TightChuddhi
He will also make psychological care free so that people negatively obsessed with a single personality or full of hatred can get full treatment.
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What happened to Naseem Hameed. wasnt she fastest girl in pakistan?
she should have represented pakistan in olympics and in CWG
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@Truth Detector: Also he should make a law against trolls on facebook and burger eaters
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@malik:
ummmm ha ha ha. It is USAIN BOLT and not HUSSAIN BOLT. USAIN BOLT IS A CHRISTIAN.Recommend
@sam: Next time please try and qualify to atleast participate in the gali games of your locality and then come pointing fingers at someone trying to earn a good name for her nation.
From an Indian – Bravo Rabia, dont stop believing!
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@STARS: So Usain Bolts Jamaica is a land of honey and butter?
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There are a lot of melodramatic comments here…it’s a shame that Rabia didn’t get through the qualification heat, but she is young and inshallah she will get better and faster. The fact that she was there is a tribute to her talent, and it was great to see her representing Pakistan internationally.
Instead of wailing to the skies about how everything in Pakistan is doomed, let’s just put this in perspective – there are plenty of other things for the pessimists to cry about, let’s just wish our athletes the very best for the future.
Hasan
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What matters is that she participated and showed the world what Pakistani women are really capable of – kudos Rabia!
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still not sure how is pakistan national team in national which does not respresent all provences!!
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@Haider: The only thing wrong is administration – don’t forget in the 90′s we were world champions in hockey, cricket, snooker and squash
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@malik:
The name is Usain St. Leo Bolt born to Wellesley and Jennifer Bolt…. He is not the greatest Olympic athlete by any stretch of imagination (maybe Michael Phelps given that he has 19 gold medals) or a muslim for that matter. For God’s sake, stop with this Ummah unity bull crap.
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Okay ZERO’s……………BEST OF LUCK TO WIN ATLEAST 1 MEDAL IN THE NEXT 50 YEARS
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Pakistan’s Olympics performance has always been better under dictators, including the last hockey gold medal, which Pakistan won under Zia.
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@kishore kumar:
What a silly comment (expected from an Indian). Selection for Olympics in Pakistan is done on performance (i.e. merit), not provinces. The same is the case with other countries.
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@malik:
you get a gold medal for this now
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it was not running away from household activities , so how could she win ? :P
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@ Vishnu Dutta – Same question me have!!! Where is Naseem Hameed, will some newspaper put roshni on this.
And dear paki dudes – stopwatch was invented long time back and is widely available in paki – please use it – Rabia Ashiq must have timed her self a zillion times before making the claim she will better her own record of 2:10! 2:17 is way off! Nevertheless, RESPECT!
And @ Hussain Bolt and Bolt being from Muslim Ummah .. hahahahahahahaha … serioulsy! @ Alant Jawab – nice chamayt!
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The resources are very short training is not proper so its good she participated in Olympics
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@Cyma Khan:
Good response – I’m curious as to how many non-Brahmins will ever experience Olympic glory on the Hindustani team.
Typical Hindustanis, turning a purely Pakistani thread into a flame war. Now taste the response.
Hasan
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This is the country of 180 Million people!
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US and China heavily fund their Olympic athletes, their teams, coaches, facilities, etc. They are motivated by endorsements from large businesses and heavy media hype in their countries. Pakistan doesn’t seem to take Olympic games very seriously. There is no motivation nor endorsement from large businesses to play and win. Sending a handful of athletes in 2-3 sports only reduces any chances for winning medals..
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@BRUISED INDIAN:
Well said! Thank you!
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@Cyma Khan: & @Hasan:
Can’t you guys take criticism positively and think like a human instead of squaring up yourself in a corner? See your negativity to improve yourself instead having it for the rest of your life.
Really? So dictators must be magicians then .. I guess Musharraf wasn’t given full skills of this magic from his predecessor Zia then?.
Its rather due to the fact that we used to win medals in Hockey and rest of the world moved ahead in learning more skills .. besides the fact that Hockey used to be played on grass whereas its played on astro turff now and due to that reason both Pakistan & India can’t play it the way they used to.
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look at iran 5gold medal
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@AhsanS:
Did you see how Hussain Bolt kissed the ground (earth) as thanksgiving after he won ?
Doesn’ that prove to you that he is part of our Ummah ?
But then, you’re a liberal, so you will have no respect for the concept called Ummah !!!
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Hi Malik,
Usain Bolt is a protestant Christian, like the majority of Jamaicans. Kissing the ground is because that is what he ran on in order to win. Some people kiss their hurdles, or their national flag.
The comments above about infrastructure are correct. That is the main reason for countries performing better or worse in sports. You need the talent, which every country will have if only you take the time to find it, then you need to develop the talent, you need the right people and the right facilities, and you have to take it seriously and plan maybe 5 – 10 years ahead!
It’s easier for richer countries but it’s not impossible for others – as khazakhstan has been proving.
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@Hasan:
India won 6 medals this time and as far as i know non of them is a brahmin . in India we don’t see the cast to select or cheer for our sportsperson. brahmins or dalits , all cheer for our atheletes. our hindus cheer for our muslim sportspersons like mohd. azharuddin, irfan pathan , kaif, zaheer etc. and these muslims have done well against pakistan.
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@ujcricket:
I guess none of them have any family in Assam, then.
Hasan
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