Double gold for Pakistan in Delhi
Hussain, the army wrestler who won a silver in the Grecko-Roman style, sealed Pakistan’s first gold medal by beating his Nigerian counterpart in the 55-kilogramme final. The 21-year-old from Muzaffargarh, competing in his second fight of the day, showed great stamina to outclass Ebikewenimo Welson in the second round of the final.
With the match locked 3-3 after the first round, Hussain pinned his opponent to the mat to confirm the win. Earlier, he rose above crowd-pressure to overcome local wrestler Anil Kumar 3-1 in the semi-finals.
“It was the passion to win for the country that kept me going as I could not afford to lose in front of Indian leaders including Sonia Gandhi,” Hussain told The Express Tribune.
Pakistan received its second gold of the day when Inam ended up victorious after a tense fight against India’s ten-time national champion Anuj Chaudhary in the 84-kg bout.
Inam, an MBA student from Punjab University, lost the first round after conceding a point and stunned the noisy crowd by winning the second round by s single point. The decisive round saw both wrestlers going defensive resulting in a 1-1 draw at final whistle. Inam took full advantage of the tie-breaker after winning the toss and pinned his opponent to claim victory.
“It was very tense in front of a noisy crowd but I made up my mind that I have to win in any case,” said the Gujranwala-born athlete whose win marked the end of the wrestlers’ campaign at the Games where they managed three medals.
Nisar loses in quarter-final
Pakistan boxer Nisar Khan went out of the medal race after a defeat at the hands of his Welsh counterpart in the quarter-finals.
Nisar, the experienced middleweight (75kg) boxer, proved a mismatch for Kieran Hardin who dominated fight right from the start to win 5-2.
Following the loss, Pakistan’s hopes for boxing medals rest on Haroon Khan and Mohammad Waseem who have confirmed atleast a bronze for Pakistan by reaching the semi-finals that will be played today.
Shah finishes 9th in centre-fire pistol
Pakistan’s shooters returned empty-handed in the centre-fire pistol event despite wining a silver medal in the last Games in Melbourne.
Mustakeem Shah finished ninth in the competition with a score of 569 out of 600 while Irshad Ali, who won the silver medal in 2006, finished 11th after accumulating 565 points in the 24-contender event.
Meanwhile, Amir Bilal failed to reach the final of the shot-gun event after scoring 105 out of 125 points in a discpline that has left Pakistan without any medals.
Pakistan wrestler Azhar Hussain
“It was the passion to win for the country that kept me going. I can’t express in words what I felt when the Indian leaders applauded on seeing Pakistan flag on top.”
New Zealand shooter Alan Earle
“Something happened to the trigger and it didn’t release. I broke a pin a day back and it was fixed. I hoped it wasn’t another one of those. But it went bang at the right time.”
Published in The Express Tribune, October 11th, 2010.
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