KARACHI: Pakistan’s last day in the Commonwealth Games ended with unsatisfactory results as table tennis players and wrestlers failed to win any medals.
Table tennis duo Areeba Sheikh and Farwa Babar lost 3-0 to Northern Ireland’s strong pair Hannah Lynch-Dawson and Emma Ludlow in the women’s doubles at Scotstoun Table Tennis court on Thursday.
Meanwhile, Pakistan wrestler Muhammad Salman defeated England’s Philip Roberts 3-1 in the men’s 65kg freestyle event to qualify for the quarter-finals, where he lost to Canadian Jevon Balfour 3-1 and also crashed out of the men’s freestyle repechage category.
Another wrestler, Muhammad Inam conquered Srilanka’s Ekanayaka Mudiyanas 4-1 in the men’s 86kg freestyle round of 16, but was beaten by Canadian Tamerlan Tagziev in the quarter-final.
Published in The Express Tribune, August 1st, 2014.
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COMMENTS (16)
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@SK5: Lord!! There is something called as sarcasm... Clearly you missed that...
@Sri Varahadev:
Un-Islamic advantage, fasting aye?, Is that why Islamic countries like Iran, Turkey, Indonesia, Azerbaijan etc always end up with way more medals in the Olympics then India despite being on average 20 times less the population?.
India is no matching with Pakistan. Don't compare
@Hamood: This is about politics in Pakistan. Pakistan was regularly beating India in medal counts from 50s through 80s even with 10 times less population.
Rubbish!! Forget about beating India,Pakistan was suspended from the commonwealth when you had dictatorship. It did not participate from 1974 to 1986. It participated again in 1990 where it did not win a single medal.
Source
@Hamood we always have Democracy since independence & Corruption(even bigger than your`s) till last year. Dont hide your incompetency by falsehood. BTW seems to me you people likes to be ruled by Dictators?
During the final bout between Sushil Kumar and Qamar Abbas, I noticed that Sushil had his whole team of physio and what not and when he bled, he handled it smartly. On the other hand Abbas only had a maulvi looking fellow, though I am sure he is is a good coach pehalwaan or some bureaucrat on a sojourn.
But one thing was sure, the Pakistani team for the wrestler was grossly underprepared and not supported. Just like India, there is a huge wrestling tradition in Pakistan (I would be surprised if I was wrong here), the only think is support for the wrestler. At the end of the day, we all have to feed our families and no matter how good one is, if he is not supported financially, he will not be able to put his mind 100% into the sport and that is as important as the physical aspect of it.
I am glad all Pakistan obsessed Indians are feeling good about this. This is NOT about India by the way. This is about politics in Pakistan. Pakistan was regularly beating India in medal counts from 50s through 80s even with 10 times less population. It has been a steady decline since because of democracy and corrupt politicians.
why is this newspaper always full of ridiculous indian comments? why are they so concerned about Pakistan? Why not try to build some loos in India?
@Zarb-e-Hanood:
What you term “national narrative in Pakistan” may not take a “beating” as there is the crutch that there was only one head to head Indo-Pakistani contest, that of the 107 seconds blitz of Sushil Kumar which demolished Pakistan wrestler Qamar Abbas. To that crutch could be added mental anguish at insult of use of dogs in the game’s opening ceremony, acute sorrow caused by Israel’s actions in Gaza, toll of fasting during Ramazan and Un-Islamic advantage enjoyed by India of being able to have women contest at the games.
Oops! My bad. Salman had lost to Clarkson from Nigeria. It was Inam who lost to India's Pawan Kumar in the repechage in the 86 kg category - coincidentally (?) also not mentioned!
Btw, any particular reason why in the article above, all the opponents Pakistan faced have been mentioned except Salman's opponent in the repechage bout? Maybe because it was an Indian?
ET - dare to publish?
Look at it this way. Not too long ago, both China and India were nowhere on the world's sport scene. Today, China competes at the top at the Olympics, while India figures at the higher levels in Commonwealth and Asian Games. Obviously, the potential is there in Pakistan - needs to be tapped and nurtured. Performance in sports is not everything - but it is an important indicator of social development in a country. If Pakistan can ensure stability and peace within, it's performance in sport will also dramatically improve. All the best!
@Zarb-e-Hanood: You are right :) Hate propagates several unexplainable theories usually aimed at self flattery. While the saying in Pakistan has been about manly Muslim men against puny Indian Hindu men, the same is not reflected in outcomes of war or sporting events as in case of cwg games. Most indian medals for india are in wrestling,boxing,judo,shooting,weight lifting etc. although it's an unfair comparison but indian women athletes have bagged 18 more medals than Pakistani male athletes. The remark is not against Pakistani men or Muslim men , just against the bizzare perceptions. It is also not meant to claim any superiority of Indians. It's all about planning and organisation.
The national narrative in Pakistan of martial and manly Muslim Pakistani’s in comparison with scrawny non martial Hindu Indian’s is going to take a beating when looking at the medal haul at the CWG. Pakistan 3 medals none Gold. India 47 Medals of which 13 Gold and chance for more medals.
When a country is financially weak and unstable its health, sports, and image around the world goes down. Unless we have good economy and high literacy rate we are destined to doom not only in sports but in every indicator of life.
What do you expect? The athletes are not to be blamed. They didn't know if they were going to even go to these games until 48 hours before the games. Blame all the sports federations and especially the government for all this fiasco. Kudos to noon league (and PPP before them) for putting their honchos in charge of federations and ruining the sports in the country.