Pakistan hockey retains winning form

Greenshirts register 2-0 win against China on second day.

KARACHI:

It was another stroll in the park for Pakistan hockey when Haseem Khan and Muhammad Dilber scored a goal apiece to lead the team towards another victory at the Asian Games, beating China 2-0 on Sunday.

The Greenshirts had trampled Sri Lanka 14-0 a day earlier in their opening match.

“The two wins have taken the teams’ confidence to a high level, but we still need to focus on some areas before facing India,” captain Muhammad Imran told The Express Tribune from Korea.

Pakistan will now face archrivals India in their third Group B match on Thursday and then will play against Oman the following day.

“We will work on our gameplay, as we missed several chances to score more goals today [Sunday], something we can’t afford in our encounter with India,” added Imran.

In other matches, India won 8-0 against Sri Lanka, South Korea defeated Singapore 12-0 and Malaysia overcame Bangladesh 5-1.

Nasir exits squash singles event

Pakistan’s Nasir Iqbal failed to build on his previous two wins in the ongoing Asian Games as the squash player crashed out of the quarter-finals, following a 3-1 defeat at the hands of India’s Saurav Ghosal on Sunday.

The 19-year-old was Pakistan’s key player in the men’s singles event, but succumbed to his seasoned opponent after a tough match that lasted for 58 minutes.

Ghosal, ranked 16th in the world, dominated the first game 11-6. However, Iqbal replied in the second with 11-9 to level the match.

But the Indian proved to be too much for Nasir and won the next two sets 11-2 and 11-9 to seal victory.

“Nasir gave Ghosal a tough fight,” Pakistan Squash Federation Secretary Aamir Nawaz told The Express Tribune. “He was competing against Ghosal, who has a better ranking than him. However, we were expecting better results from our men.”

Meanwhile, in the women’s singles event, Maria Toorpaki Wazir lost 3-0 to China’s Annie Wing Chi Au in the quarter-finals.

The federation’s hopes are now pinned on the men’s team event, which will take place on Tuesday and features Nasir, Farhan Zaman, Farhan Mehboob and Danish Atlas.

Tennis, swimming, shooting fail to impress

Pakistan men’s tennis team, comprising Aqeel Khan and Muhammad Abid, failed to progress beyond the second round at the team event, losing 3-0 to China on Sunday.

Meanwhile, Muhammad Asif finished last among 22 participants in the men’s 100meter backstroke, whereas Anushe Dinyar Engineer finished 16th in the women’s 100m breaststroke event  out of 20 athletes.

In shooting, the men’s Trap qualification saw Aamer Iqbal, Fakharul Islam Qureshi and Usman Chand finished 31st, 35th and 40th out of 46 shooters, while the same trio finished on 10th position in the men’s Trap team event.

Kalim Khan and Uzair Ahmed also failed to qualify for the 10m Air Pistol event.

Elsewhere, Pakistan’s gymnasts Muhammad Yasir and Muhammad Afzal finished 26th and 28th position out of 28 contenders in the men’s individual vault qualification round.

Published in The Express Tribune, September 22^nd, 2014.

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