GUWAHATI: Wrestler Moha­mmad Inam outfought India’s Gopal Yadav on Sunday to win Pakistan’s second gold medal at the South Asian Games while the country’s squash players exerted their dominance by overcoming opposition from the hosts.

Inam followed Lianna Swan as Pakistan’s second gold medallist at the regional extravaganza as he overcame Yadav in the 86kg category final.

Swimmer Swan, who won the women’s 200m backstroke on Saturday, took silver in the 100m breaststroke on Sunday as squash players Farhan Zaman and Nasir Iqbal assured Pakistan a 1-2 finish in the men’s singles event.

Maria Toorpakai Wazir also secured a spot in the women’s singles squash event final as Pakistan closed the day with a gold, two silver and four bronze medals.

That took Pakistan’s overall medals tally to 13 (2-4-7) after the second day of competition at the Games. They are in third place on the table, behind India (28-12-3) and Sri Lanka (8-17-13).

India had won four out of four gold medals on offer on at the R.G. Baruah Sports Complex on Sundag before Inam took on Yadav in the day’s concluding final.

And Inam denied them a fifth when he made a fine comeback against Yadav. While trailing 1-4 initially, he got Yadav twice on the mat and won the final bout with a handsome 12-4 margin in the end.

Pakistan’s Abdul Wahab was also a medal winner in wrestling when he took silver after losing the 61kg final to India’s Pradeep, who won on technical superiority.

Pakistan’s squash players, though were thoroughly superior against Indian players.

Pakistan won both the gold and silver in men’s individual event in the last edition of the Games in 2010 and assured themselves of a similar finish ths time around.

Farhan cruised past top seed Saurav Ghosal 11-4, 11-5, 10-12, 11-5 to set up a final against second-seeded Nasir who progressed when Harinder Pal Singh Sandhu retired while trailing 7-11, 14-12, 7-11, 6-6.

Maria, meanwhile, will face Indian top seed Joshna Chinappa in the women’s individual event final.

She beat Sri Lankan Milhiya Methsarani 11-8, 6-11, 11-2, 11-2 with Chinappa ending hopes of an all-Pakistan final when she defeated Sadia Gul 11-9, 11-7, 11-5.

SILVER LINING FOR SWAN

At the Dr Zakir Hussain Aquatic Complex, Swan finished the 100m breaststroke in 1 minute 18.58 seconds as she took silver behind Bangladesh’s Mahfuza Akhter (1:17.86). India’s Chahat Arora took bronze with 1:18.77.

Also in the pool, Pakistan’s Naveed Hussain won bronze in the 200m backstroke with a time of 2.19:57, behind winner M Arvind of India and silver medallist Kavindra Nugaweh of Sri Lanka.

Pakistan also won two bronze medals in weightlifting with Abu Sufyan finishing third in the 69kg category and Umar Rasool Lone ending at the same position in the 77kg category.

Sufyan had a total lift of 275kg, six less than gold medallist Sambo Lapung of India, who edged Sri Lankan M Disanayake on body weight.

Umar lifted 281kg, 24 kilos less than Indian gold medallist Ajay.

The other bronze of the day for Pakistan belonged to Nadia Parvez finished third in the women’s taolu (Changquan) event of the wushu competitions at the Rising Sun Sports Complex in Shillong.

Also on Sunday, Pakistan assured themselves of a medal in women’s table tennis team event after they edged past Sri Lanka 3-2 to set up a final against arch-rivals and hosts India.

After Rahila Kashif lost 11-8, 3-11, 1-11, 6-11 to Ruvini Kannangura, Shabnam Bilal beat Ishara Madhurangi 11-4, 2-11, 11-2, 11-3 to draw Pakistan level.

Ayesha Ansari was then beaten 8-11, 9-11, 11-1 3 by Erandi Warasavotjama but Rahila and Shabnam then won the last two matches to seal Pakistan’s berth in the final.

Rahila Kashif overcame Madhurangi 7-11, 11-8, 11-8, 11-9 before Shabnam got through 11-9, 16-18, 11-3, 8-11, 11-2 in a tense decider against Kannangura.

Pakistan will also face India in the men’s team badminton semi-final after they finished second in Group ‘B’ despite losing 3-0 to Sri Lanka with Murad Aliq’s 23-25, 21-15, 15-21 loss to Sachin Dias being the highlight of the clash.

Pakistan’s women’s team thrashed Maldives 3-0 before being given a similar thrashing by Bangladesh.

Elsewhere, Pakistan’s hockey team opened their campaign with a 3-0 win over Sri Lanka.

Published in Dawn, February 8th, 2016