Pakistan’s squash semi-final hopes ended in bronze on Saturday, the hockey team’s unbeaten run crumbled against Malaysia, and both boxers were ousted — a bruising day at the Asian Games that left the country counting its losses.
Noor Zaman and Mohammad Ashab Irfan both fell in straight games at the Nagoya Kinjo Futo Arena, leaving Pakistan with two bronze medals from the squash court.
Noor, Pakistan’s top-ranked player, went toe-to-toe with top seed Eain Yow Ng in a gripping opening game.
The pair traded points to 5-5 before Noor edged ahead 7-5, but the Malaysian halted his momentum and launched a comeback to take the first game 11-7 in 14 minutes.
The 28-year-old Ng was relentless thereafter.
Noor took the opening point of the second game, but Ng immediately drew level and then rattled off 10 consecutive points before Noor could respond, wrapping up the game 11-2 in just four minutes.
The Malaysian raced to a six-point lead in the third before Noor got on the board, and although the 22-year-old clawed two points back and denied Ng on his first match point, the top seed sealed victory 11-4 on his second attempt to end Pakistan’s run in the event.
Mohammad Ashab Irfan was never allowed to settle in his semi-final against second seed Abhay Singh of India.
The 22-year-old lost the first game 11-3, showed improvement in the second but still went down 12-10, before the experienced 28-year-old closed out the win 11-6 in the third to wrap up the match in 35 minutes.
The hockey team’s perfect record also came to a stunning end on Saturday as Malaysia edged Pakistan 5-4 at the Gifu Prefectural Green Stadium.
Sufyan Khan, Pakistan’s top scorer at the Games, netted all four goals from penalty corners — taking his tournament tally to nine in four matches — but could not prevent the defeat.
Pakistan opened the scoring in the third minute, only for Shello Silverius to immediately draw Malaysia level.
Faizal Saari put Malaysia ahead from a penalty corner in the 23rd minute, before Sufyan struck in the 39th and 43rd minutes to regain the lead for Pakistan.
Saari Fitri pulled Malaysia level again on the stroke of the third quarter to make it 3-3.
Pakistan started the fourth quarter brightly as Sufyan scored again in the 46th minute, while Mohammed Ammad had a shot saved before Malaysian goalkeeper Zaimi Deris Mat denied both Sufyan a fifth goal and Ghazanfar Ali.
Malaysia made Pakistan pay for the missed opportunities, with Silverius levelling once more before Azrai Abu Kamal stunned the four-time World Cup winners in the 57th minute.
Pakistan poured forward as Malaysia’s Faris Harizan was shown a green card and two penalty corners followed, but Malaysia held on.
The Green Shirts will play their final pool match against Oman on Monday.
Pakistan’s star shuttler Mahoor Shahzad crashed out of the women’s singles, losing 21-5, 21-11 to Indonesia’s Putri Kusuma Wardani in a one-sided first-round match at the Ichinomiya City Municipal Gymnasium.
The national champion never found her rhythm against the 24-year-old Indonesian, who dictated every rally.
Wardani raced to a 4-0 lead before the 29-year-old Mahoor got on the scoreboard, then pulled away to take the opening game 21-5 in just 10 minutes. Mahoor failed to win a single point on her own serve in the game.
She briefly led early in the second, but Wardani drew level and reeled off five straight points to move 12-6 ahead, closing out the match 21-11 on her second match point. Mahoor managed only four points on her serve in the second game and never strung together more than three consecutive points.
On the track, Shajar Abbas qualified from his 200-metre heat, finishing third in 21.23 seconds behind Japan’s Akira Hayashi (21.19) and Bahrain’s Abbas Ali (21.13) at the Nagoya City Mizuho Park Athletic Stadium.
Shajar was competing for the first time this season after recovering from an injury. The semi-finals were to be held later on Saturday, with the final scheduled for Sunday.
The day got even worse for Pakistan’s athletes as both boxers were ousted at the Nishio Gymnasium.
Commonwealth Games bronze medallist Fatima Zehra lost comprehensively against Mijgona Samadova of Tajikistan in their women’s 60kg bout. The 28-year-old Samadova never let Fatima settle, taking the first round 10-8 on four judges’ scorecards.
Fatima could not recover from that opening-round beating as the Tajik kept the pressure on in the second, knocking her down once.
The 22-year-old lost the second 10-8 on four cards, and while she showed great heart to take the fight the distance, the third also went against her 10-8 on three judges’ scorecards.
Earlier, Irfan Khan had a forgettable debut in the men’s 90kg category, knocked down twice in the first round by South Korea’s Gichae Kim before the referee stopped the contest in the second.
The judges had scored the opening round in Kim’s favour, with four giving the South Korean a 10-9 advantage and one scoring it 10-8. Kim added another knockdown in the second before the stoppage.
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