GUWAHATI: Gold medals have been hard to come by for Pakistan at the South Asian Games.

So gold medals for wushukas Maaz Khan and Syed Maratib Ali would’ve given the Pakistan contingent at the regional extravaganza some boost especially after their squash teams lost their respective finals on Wednesday.

The golden double increased Pakistan’s tally to seven golds at the Games and their overall tally now stands at 59 (7-20-32).

It would’ve been nine however if the women’s and men’s squash teams hadn’t lost their finals to arch-rivals and hosts India who lead the overall medals table with a whopping 194 (117-61-16). Sri Lanka lie second with 133 medals (24-36-63).

Pakistan’s Nasir Iqbal and Farhan Zaman had won gold and silver in the men’s singles squash events but the duo lost their matches in the team event as India pulled off an unlikely 2-1 victory in the final.

Nasir was stunned 7-11, 8-11, 7-11 by Saurav Ghosal but Danish Atlas Khan overwhelmed Ravi Dixit 11-3, 11-8, 6-11, 11-6 to level matters.

It was up to Farhan to win it for Pakistan but he lost 3-11, 8-11, 10-12 as India celebrated victory.

The women’s team event was a more straightforward affair with India winning 2-0.

Joshna Chinappa had beaten Maria Toorpakai Wazir in the individual event final and did so again in the team event, romping to a 11-8, 4-11, 11-5, 11-9 victory despite a second game meltdown.

Any chances of a Pakistan comeback in the second match were extinguished when India’s Sunayna Kuruvilla overcame Sammer Anjum 10-12, 11-7, 11-7, 8-11, 11-6.

That meant Pakistan got two silvers to add to the three badminton bronze medals — in the men’s singles, men’s doubles and women’s doubles — that were handed out on Wednesday after the Pakistan shuttlers had lost the semi-finals a day earlier.

They were also handed the three tennis bronze medals — two in women’s singles for Ushna Sohail and Sara Mansoor and one in mixed doubles — after their semi-final losses on Tuesday.

AISAM OUSTED

A bronze for Aisam-ul-Haq, meanwhile, will be confirmed on Thursday after Pakistan’s tennis ace lost the men’s singles semi-finals to India’s Saketh Myneni 2-6, 1-6 at the All Assam Tennis Association Grounds on Wednesday.

While Aisam missed his shots, Pakistan’s shooters did find their range at the Kahilipara Shooting Range as they bagged silver in the men’s 50m pistol with a total of 1583 points, behind gold medallists India’s 1622.

In the individual event, Pakistan’s Kalimullah Khan who scored 165.9 to take bronze behind Bangladesh’s Sakil Ahmed (187.6) and Indian Om Prakash (187.3).

Over in the pool, Pakistan’s women’s swimmers also bagged a silver medal when they finished behind India in the 4x100m individual medley.

There was another second-place finish in another relay as a much-vaunted athletics silver finally came Pakistan’s way after a disappointing show at the nine events at the Indira Gandhi National Stadium on Tuesday.

Pakistan’s men came behind Sri Lanka in the 4x100m relay, adding to their three bronze medals in other track and field medals earlier on Wednesday.

Mohsin Ali began Pakistan’s medals tally in the blue-riband athletics events when he clocked 14.26 seconds to finish third in the men’s 110m hurdles, behind Indians J Surendhar (14.13) and Prem Kumar (14.18).

Arshad Nadeem brought the second bronze for Pakistan with a throw of 78.33 metres in the javelin throw, which was won by a Games record 82.23m effort by India’s Neeraj Kumar.

Rehan Anjum then jumped 4.60m in the pole vault for Pakistan’s third bronze.

HOCKEY FINAL

It was at the Rising Sun Sports Complex in Shillong, however, where Pakistan’s best performance of the day came.

Maaz overcame Indian Mukesh Choudhry in the 70kg final with Maratib topping Shekib Haidari of Afghanistan in the 65kg final for Pakistan’s two golds of the day.

The two final victories, though, came along with two final losses.

Indian Uchit Sharma beat Zahoor Ahmed in the men’s Sanshou 52kg final while Rashid Minhas fell in the 75kg gold medal match.

Pakistan’s Komal Emmanuel bagged a bronze in the wushu taichi all-round event, finishing third with 14.16 points, while there were also third-placed finishes for Pakistan in the women’s 60kg and 70kg events.

Pakistan’s best chance of another gold, meanwhile, will come on Friday when they will face arch-rivals India in the hockey final after they thrashed Bangladesh 6-0 on Wednesday.

After a fast start, Umar Bhutta and Kashif Shah put Pakistan 2-0 up by the seventh minute before a brace by Awais-ur-Rehman and goals by Arsalan and Tasa­wwar Abbas clinched victory.

Published in Dawn, February 11th, 2016