Maaz secures semi-finals berth

Kickboxer defeats Afghanistan's Muhammadi 2-0

KARACHI: Pakistan's Maaz Khan qualified for the semi-finals of the Asian Indoor and Martial Arts Games' kick-boxing event in Ashgabat, Turkmenistan on Saturday.

The 2010 South Asian Games Wushu gold medallist brought down Afghanistan's Rohollah Muhammadi 2-0 in the quarter-final of the -75kg full-contact men's event.

Maaz sent Muhammadi packing out of the competition, thanks to a unanimous decision win.

The 27-year-old was just one of seven Pakistani athletes competing in the kick-boxing event.

Maaz will now take on Iran's Hosein Karami in the semi-final but he is guaranteed to bag a bronze medal even if he loses that match.

After a flurry of medals in the opening few days, Saturday was a rare barren one for Pakistan at the Games as the medal tally remained stood still at 20, including two gold, three silver and 15 bronze.

Pakistan currently occupy 19th place out of 34 countries in the standings, with hosts Turkmenistan leading the way, thanks to their 182 medals, including 69 gold.

Meanwhile, Iran is in second place with 17 gold medals and 72 overall, Uzbekistan are third with 16 gold medals and 80 in total.

Elsewhere, Pakistan snooker team lost 3-1 in their pre-quarterfinal match against Myanmar. Cueist Muhammad Sajjad will now take on Thailand's Issara Kachaiwong and Asjad Iqbal will play Philippines' Basil Alshajjar in snooker single championship on Sunday.