Pakistan, with 106 medals, capped the 12th South Asian Games (SAG) on third place behind hosts India (308 medals) and much-improved Sri Lanka who clinched 186 medals in the regional games that concluded last week in the Indian cities of Guwahati and Shillong. Pakistan’s medal tally includes 12 gold, 37 silver and 57 bronze medals.
It was Pakistan’s third hundred-plus medals haul in the games’ 32-year history.
Previously, Pakistan grabbed 143 medals in 2004, at Islamabad followed by their highest medals aggregate (158) in the 2006 South Asian Games at Colombo.
In the 8-nation grand event, competitions were held in 23 disciplines — 16 in Guwahati and seven in Shillong.
The previous edition was conducted in Dhaka in 2010. The games were originally scheduled to be held in 2012, in Kathmandu, but were postponed to Delhi for 2013 but again, were postponed to late 2015 because of the suspension of the Indian Olympic Association.
In 2015 it was decided to further postpone the competition to early 2016, because participating countries felt the December dates did not present enough time for preparation. The next South Asian Games would be hosted by Nepal in Kathmandu in 2019.
On the last day of the regional games, Pakistan’s Shah Hussain and Fauzia Mumtaz grabbed gold medals in judo competitions. Shah Hussain, who is also fighting for an Olympic berth, lifted gold in the 100 kilogramme weight category and Fauzia was the other judoka who added to Pakistan’s gold-medal tally by lifting title in the 78kg class.
Humaira Ashiq and Beenish Khan claimed silver medals while Iram Shehzadi, Shumaila Gul, Ambreen Masih, Mudassir Ali, Babar Hussain, Imtiaz Hussain, Qaisar Khan and Afzal Bashir also picked bronze medals. Overall Pakistan ended second in the judo competitions.
In the pool, Pakistani swimmers, who lifted one gold, two silver and five bronze medals, bettered eight national records in the event. Dubai-based Lianna Swan lifted the only swimming gold. She also became the first Pakistani woman swimmer to have lifted gold in the history of the South Asian Games.
It may be noted here that Swan, 19, was born in Bahrain to a Pakistani mother and a British father thus holding dual nationality of both UK and Pakistan. Swan has represented Pakistan in the 2010 Asian Games, 2011 FINA World Cup in Dubai, 2013 FINA World Aquatics Championships in Barcelona, Spain and 2014 Commonwealth Games in Glasgow.
It is pertinent to mention here that Wapda players clinched 44 medals out of 106 in 18 different disciplines.
Wapda players won five gold medals in squash, weightlifting, wrestling and wushu out of 12 and also 19 silver medals out of 37 and 21 bronze medals out of 57 won by Pakistan in the South Asian Games. As many as 66 male and 41 female players of Wapda Sports Board participated in the South Asian Games for Pakistan.
Though Pakistan managed to cross the mark of a 100 medals in the South Asian Games, their overall performance can’t be called a satisfactory one.
Barring an outstanding show in hockey, wrestling, judo and taekwondo, Pakistani athletes struggled to show promise in all other events with athletics being the worst ever. It is for the very first time since the inception of the Games in 1984, that Pakistan has failed to win a single gold medal in the track and field event of the regional games.
Three athletes who were tipped to earn gold prior to team departure returned either with silver medal or bronze. Shakeel Ahmad (hammer throw), Liaquat Ali (100 and 200m sprint) and Mohsin (110m hurdles) could not succeed in breaking the jinx that haunted Pakistan track and field squad in the 12th edition of the Games.
It is worth mentioning that in the 2010 Dhaka Games, Pakistan track and field athletes scooped up four gold medals but this time they returned home without a single gold medal.
Like athletics, Pakistan boxers also failed to clinch any gold medal for the first time in the history of the South Asian Games. National pugilists had to content with four silver medals after they lost their respective finals to the Indian boxers.
As per details, in the 49kg final Mohibullah went down against India's Devendro Sindh 3-0. Syed M Asif lost his 52kg decider to India's Madan Lal 2-1. Ali Ahmed, a highly talented boxer from Wapda, also conceded his 60kg final to India's Dheeraj 2-1. Tanvir was the last casualty for Pakistan when he also went 3-0 down in the 75kg final against India's Vikas Krishna.
Pakistan's Niamatulah, who lifted a gold medal in Dhaka some six years ago, lost the 56kg quarterfinal against the Sri Lankan boxer after receiving serious injury on his right eyebrow, leaving him incapable to continue the fight. He had 12 stitches on that area.
In women’s boxing, Pakistan's Rukhsana and Sofia picked bronze medals. Pakistan had fielded three women boxers for the first time in the history of the competitions. Pakistan coach Ali Bakhsh blamed referees for his players’ poor finish, saying they were denied two sure gold medals.
In the men's handball, Pakistan failed to defend the title when they narrowly lost to India 32-31 in the final. At one stage, India had a decent lead but Pakistan fought back strongly before having failed to finish the game in the end. In the women handball Pakistan clinched bronze after they beat Nepal in the third-place play-off.
United States-based emerging player Yasmin Maryam Khan and Asim Ijaz lifted gold medals for Pakistan in taekwondo competitions in the Indian city of Shillong. The 16-year old Yasmin lived up to the billing by securing gold in the fin-weight on her South Asian Games debut.
Asim Ijaz of Army also won gold in the heavyweight category by beating players from India, Bhutan and Sri Lanka. The other taekwondo players - Naveed Khan (-86kg) grabbed a silver medal while Ayesha Noor claimed bronze in the flyweight.
Pakistan shooter Kalimullah missed a gold by the narrowest of margins in the 10m. air pistol shooting competition.
Kalim ultimately won silver behind India’s Omkar Singh who won gold with 198.8 points. Kalim got 198.1 points and stayed neck and neck with the Indian international. Pakistan also won silver in the 10m air pistol team event with the help of Kalimullah, Kalim Khan and Akhtar Shahzad. India won gold with Sri Lanka finishing with bronze.
In field hockey, Awaisur Rehman scored in the dying moments of the first half of the game, to give Pakistan a hockey gold medal against India. Following a goalmouth fight, Awais tapped in from the field, to give Pakistan a decisive 1-0 lead.
India tried an all out effort to equalize the goal in the second half but to no avail. India and Pakistan missed two penalty corners each during the last minutes of the match.
In tennis, Pakistan was represented by experienced duo Aisamul Haq and Aqeel Khan. The Pakistan tennis squad returned with four bronze, possibly the worst performance in the last three outings.
In the singles, Aisam returned with bronze while Ushna and Sara Mansoor also took bronze in the women’s doubles. Ushna and Aisam picked the fourth bronze in the mixed doubles.
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