Dawn SportPublished September 23, 2026 Updated about 19 hours ago
0Pakistan’s Noor Zaman in action during his Round of 32 match against Van Aero Dalida of the Phillippines at the Asian Games in the Nagoya Kunjo Futo Arena, Japan on 23 Sept, 2026.–Courtesy Pakistan Olympic Association
Pakistan’s squash campaign got off to a flying start on Wednesday as Noor Zaman and Mohammad Ashab cruised into the men’s singles last-16, though the country’s kabaddi team tasted defeat for the first time at the Asian Games.
Noor, Pakistan’s No. 1, routed Van Aero Dalida of the Philippines 11-2, 11-4, 11-3 in 20 minutes at the Nagoya Kinjo Futo Arena, while Ashab, 22, registered a thumping 11-2, 11-3, 11-0 victory over Lebanon’s Jason Karam in 18 minutes.
Noor, ranked 29th in the PSA standings, faces Ammar Altamimi in the round-of-16 on Thursday, while world No. 49 Ashab takes on Mohammad Al Alnafsan of Saudi Arabia for a spot in the quarter-finals.
The women could not emulate that success, with both Mahnoor Ali and Sana Bahadur ousted in the round-of-32 after contrasting defeats.
The 13-year-old Mahnoor lost to Wai Yhann Au Yeong of Singapore 11-9, 11-3, 11-8 in 23 minutes, while Sana, 20, fell in a thriller against Iran’s Najmeh Boushehrizadeh 11-9, 6-11, 10-12, 11-8, 11-6 in a 35-minute encounter.
Sana lost the first, took the next two, before Boushehrizadeh halted her progress by claiming the final two games.
Earlier, Asim Khan and Mehwish Ali dispatched Nepal’s Arhant Simha and Bipana Bhlon 11-6, 11-10 in 19 minutes to advance into the mixed doubles round-of-16.
Pakistan’s kabaddi team were handed their first defeat of the Games, going down 48-45 to Thailand in a Group B thriller at the Tokai Citizen Gymnasium.
It looked business as usual when Pakistan led 23-16 at half-time, but Thailand launched a stunning second-half comeback, scoring 32 points to Pakistan’s 22 to snatch the win.
Thailand’s defence was the difference, forcing eight all-outs in the second half and racking up four super tackle points compared to Pakistan’s three.
Thailand also received a yellow card, but Pakistan couldn’t capitalise.
Pakistan, who won their first two fixtures, now face Iran in their final group match on Thursday.
In the pool, swimmer Hareem Malik finished last in her heat of the women’s 100m breaststroke, clocking 1:21.12 at the Tokyo Aquatics Centre.
She completed the first 50m in 38 seconds. Overall, the 17-year-old finished 22nd out of 25 swimmers, with Macau’s Pui Lam Chen the last to qualify in 1:09.99.
Victory still eluded Pakistan in table tennis as the national team kicked off their men’s doubles campaign with two losses, while Kulsoom Khan also lost her first-round match at the Sky Hall Toyota.
Abbas Khan and Mohammad Khan went down 11-4, 11-5, 11-2 to Iran’s Noshad Alamiyan and Nima Alamiyan, while Taha Bilal and Abdul Khan were beaten 11-4, 11-6, 11-9 by Bahrain’s Mohammed Alaali and Sayed Mahfoodh.
Kulsoom lost to Syria’s Hend Zaza 11-3, 11-3, 11-2, 11-6 in 15 minutes.
Pakistan also remain winless in fencing as Mohammad Ejaz Nauman lost all five of his bouts in the men’s sabre individual at the Aichi Sky Expo Hall.
The 27-year-old opened with a 5-0 defeat to Iran’s Seyed Ali Esmaeilzadeh Pakdaman before losing to Kuwait’s Mohammad Abdul Kareem by the same scoreline.
He then lost 5-1 to Vietnam’s Xuan Loi Nguyen, was beaten 5-0 by China’s Shaotong Luo and closed with a 5-1 defeat to the Philippines’ Daniel Eunice Villanueva.
At the Equestrian Park, Pakistan’s Usman Khan finished 16th overall in individual eventing with a combined penalty score of 55.90 across all three phases on Eden du Veret.
The 45-year-old jumped a clean cross-country round, picking up no jumping penalties but adding 11.20 time penalties for exceeding the optimum time.
That lifted him from 20th to 16th in the final standings. He had posted 36.70 in dressage and 8.00 in show jumping on Tuesday.
In rowing, Asad Iqbal missed out on a place in the Final A of the lightweight men’s single sculls at the Nagaragawa International Regatta Course, finishing fourth in his heat.
Asad clocked 7:43.54 over the 2000m course, splitting 1:50.88 at 500m, 3:44.41 at 1000m and 5:41.39 at 1500m.
He finished nearly 11 seconds behind third-place Artem Matussevich of Kazakhstan, who took the final qualifying spot for the medal race.
Asad, 34, will contest the Final B on Thursday, which decides places 7th through 12th overall.
DATE . 24/Sep/2026