KARACHI: Pakistan’s hopes of a gold medal in squash ended when Aamir Atlas was beaten by Mohamad Azlan Iskandar of Malaysia in the final of the men’s singles squash event of the 16th Asian Games on Sunday.World No 23 Aamir, who had stunned World No 18 Ong Beng Hee of Malaysia in the semifinal, failed to repeat the same performance against World No 15 Azlan Iskandar, conceding the title clash 0-3.
Iskandar, who resides in England, was in complete control throughout the 39-minute encounter. The Malaysian, who had ousted Saurav Ghosal of India in the semifinal, took only 15 minutes to win the first set 11-6.
Aamir started the second set well but failed to prevent the experienced rival from wining it by 11-7 in only nine minutes to take a 2-0 lead.
Iskandar clinched the third 11-6 to lift the gold for his country. The set score was 11-6, 11-7, 11-6.
This was the third silver medal for Pakistan in squash in the history of the Asian Games.
Amjad Khan won silver in 1998 Bangkok Asian Games while Mansoor Zaman bagged silver in 2002 Busan Asian Games. In 1998 Bangkok Asian Games Zarak Jehan Khan had lifted the only gold for Pakistan.
In 2006 Doha Asian Games Mansoor Zaman secured bronze while in 2002 Busan Asian Games Shahid Zaman claimed bronze for the country.
The team event will start on Monday (today), where Pakistan will lock horns with Sri Lanka in their Group A opener. Kuwait, Hong Kong and China are the other teams in Group A.
Group B carries Malaysia, Japan, India, South Korea and Saudi Arabia. In women’s team event Pakistan will meet Hong Kong in their Group B clash, which also contains India and China.
In volleyball, Pakistan defeated Kuwait 3-0 in their match for the 9-12 placements.
Kuwait only managed to put up a little resistance in the first set, eventually won by Pakistan 27-25. Greenshirts breezed past Kuwait to win the next two sets 25-21 and 25-21 to wrap up a fine victory.
They will now play their play-off for the ninth place on Tuesday (tomorrow).
Meanwhile, the poor show of the national shooters continued on Sunday with Aamir Iqbal finishing last of the 33 shooters in the qualification round of the men’s double trap event by scoring 110 points.
In kabaddi, the last Asian Games silver medallists Pakistan will open their campaign against Malaysia in their Group B opener on Monday (today) at the Nansha Gymnasium.
Japan and Bangladesh are the other teams in Group B while Group A carries Iran, South Korea and India.
The semifinals will be held on November 25 while the final will be on November 26.
Pakistan have so far won four medals including a gold in women’s cricket, silver medals in wushu and squash and a bronze in snooker team event.
In judo, baseball, sailing, shooting, weightlifting, tennis, football and volleyball the country has shown a disappointing performance.
Gold medallist of the Commonwealth Karate Championship Saadi Abbas will use his muscles in the karate event starting from November 24
