Hockey should take heart from win, says Rehan

Former national striker hails Greenshirts’ 14-0 victory against SL.

KARACHI: Former national hockey striker Rehan Butt believes that Pakistan’s 14-0 win against Sri Lanka will boost Pakistan’s confidence.

The Greenshirts took the field with confidence and stunning hat-tricks came from captain Muhammad Imran, Muhammad Rizwan Sr and Umar Butt.

“It doesn’t matter that the match was against a weaker team like Sri Lanka,” Rehan told The Express Tribune.



“Pakistan’s winning start will instill confidence in the national side. This match has set the tone for the Greenshirts in the Asian Games. With the victory, their chances of defending their title have increased.”

Rehan added that the team was lacking in match practice before the continental event.

“We played an international match after almost a year. So it was heartening to see them win.”

The Greenshirts will play their second Pool B match against China on Sunday.

Nasir, Maria progress in squash

Pakistan’s Nasir Iqbal and Maria Toorpakai Wazir reached the quarter-finals of the men’s and women’s singles respectively.

Nasir defeated Korea’s Sehyun Lee 3-1 in just 36 minutes and will now face India’s Saurav Ghosal in the quarter-final.

Meanwhile, Maria tamed China’s Dongjin Li 3-1 in the women’s round of 16.

She lost her first set 11-9, but regained her focus and won the next one 13-11. The 23-year-old grabbed the following two sets 11-1 and 11-2 in just 34 minutes and will play Hong Kong’s Annie Wing Chi Au.

In other matches, Farhan Mehbob lost to Malaysia’s Ong Beng Hee 3-0 in the men’s singles Round of 16, while Muqaddas Ashraf went down with the same scoreline with Japan’s Misaki Kobayashi.

Abid, Aqeel win first round of tennis

Pakistan men’s tennis team made a good start at the Asiad, defeating Qatar 3-0 in the first round.

Muhammad Abid defeated Muhammad Jabor 6-2, 6-7, 6-3 in one of the singles event to lead the tie 1-0.

Thereafter, Aqeel Khan also won his singles match against Mousa Zayed 6-0, 4-6, 6-1.

The Davis Cup duo then sealed their win with a 6-1, 6-4 victory in the doubles’ rubber against Shannan Mubarak Zayid and Abdulreda Alsaygh.

On the other hand, Pakistan women’s team lost their first-round match 3-0 against Hong Kong.

Meanwhile, the national volleyball team lost to Kuwait 3-0 and Mehwish Farhan finished 37th out of 52 participants in the 10m Air Pistol competition.

The country’s rowers shared the same fate as Abdul Rehman finished fourth in the lightweight single scull heat and Tanveer Arif and Muhammad Maqsood concluded the lightweight double scull event on the fifth position.

On a positive note, Abdullah Khan surprised his opponent in the men’s -60kg Wushu event. The 20-year-old defeated Jordan’s Abdulraheem Aday Ali Abuhasoah 2-0 to reach the quarter-final of the competition.

Published in The Express Tribune, September 21^st, 2014.

Like Sports on Facebook, follow @ETribuneSports on Twitter to stay informed and join in the conversation.