JAKARTA: Pakistan won their second medal in the 18th Asian Games here on Saturday as martial artist Nargis beat Nepal’s Rita Karki 3-1 in the women’s +68kg kumite karate competition to win a bronze medal.

Nargis became the country’s first female karate player to win a medal at the Asiad. The 19-year-old, who hails from Hazara town in Quetta, has been the national karate champion for the past five years.

In 2017, she won a gold, a silver and a bronze medal at the South Asian Karate Champ­ion­ships held in Sri Lanka.

Speaking to media here after winning the bronze, a delighted Nargis said: “I was confident of winning a medal for my country in the Asian Games and God has given me the fruit of my hardwork today.”

She attributed her success to her father Hameedullah and her coaches Ghulam Ali and Shah Mohammad Shan, both SAF Games gold medallists in karate.

Pakistan Olympic Association (POA) president retired Lt Gen Arif Hasan and secretary Khalid Mahmood congratulated Nargis for her brilliant fighting qualities that fetched her the bronze.

Pakistan are currently placed at No. 30 on the medals table with two bronze medals to their credit. The first bronze was won by the men’s kabaddi team which lost to South Korea at the semi-final stage on Friday.

Meanwhile, Pakistan hockey team will face Malaysia in a key clash here on Sunday. The match will start at 6:00pm (PST).

Pakistan have remained unbeaten in the 18th Asian Games here so far, having scored three big wins against Thailand, Oman and Kazakhstan in successive games.

Pakistan captain Mohammad Rizwan Sr sounded optimistic about his team’s morale and preparation for the matches ahead. “We have not conceded a single goal in the Asiad so far, which is no mean feat, and we are confident of doing well against Malaysia on Sunday,” he said.

“The morale of the players and our preparation for the matches is very good and under Dutch coach (Roelant) Oltmans we are training hard.”

In other competitions, shooter Usman Chand finished top by scoring 75 points in the skeet men’s qualifying rounds. Abdul Sattar Sattee finished at 24th after scoring 65 points.

In rapidfire pistol, Mohammad Khalil finished at 8th spot after securing 577 points while Ghulam Mustafa Bashir with 869 points finished at 12th position.

In bantamweight 56kg boxing, Pakistan’s Naqeebullah beat a UAE boxer 3-0 but Pakistan’s female boxer Rukhsana Parveen lost to an Indian boxer in the 60kg contest.

In individual golf, Pakistan’s Taimur Khan ended up at 7th spot while Ahmed Baig was 14th.

In the badminton doubles contest, Pakistan’s pair of Rizwan Azam and Kashif Ali lost 0-2 to Sri Lanka.

In sailing, Pakistan’s Najeebullah finished 11th after five races in the Standard Laser Class. Raja Qasim Abbas, competing in the windsurfing RSX race, finished 7th while the duo of Khalid Hussain and Rehmanullah finshed 9th in the 470 Class races.

Published in Dawn, August 26th, 2018