LAHORE: Pakistan will face arch-rivals India in the semi-finals of the men’s kabaddi event of the 19th Asian Games at the Xiaoshan Guali Sports Centre in Hangzhou on Friday (today).
It will be a tough fight as both the nations have been hot rivals in the sport in which they are also the pioneers. Both the nations finished with bronze medals in the previous edition of the Asian Games held in Indonesia in 2018.
After facing a huge defeat at the hands of defending champions Iran in their Group B opener, Pakistan made a remarkable fightback in the event when they downed last edition’s runners-up South Korea before conquering Malaysia in their last group show to qualify for the semi-finals as group runners-up. In the other semi-final Iran will meet Chinese Taipei. The final will be held on Saturday (tomorrow).
Pakistan squad: Sajjad Shaukat, Waqar Ali, Mohammad Imran, Muzammil Zafar, Adil Hussain, Akhlaq Ahmed, Tehseen Ullah, Umair Khan, Usman Ahmed, Mudassar Ali, Mohammad Sufyan, Afaq Khan, Officials: Mohammad Kamran, Nabeel Ahmed Rana, Badshah Gul (coach).
Wrestling
Pakistan will also begin their wrestling journey in the quadrennial event in the Games when Mohammad Bilal faces Rakhat Kalzhan of Kazakhstan in the 57 kilogramme weight category pre-quarter-final on Friday (today) at the Linan Sports Culture and Exhibition Centre in Hangzhou. Bilal on Thursday said that he has worked hard and would try to take a solid start.
“I have worked hard and am confident to take a good start,” Bilal told The News from Hangzhou. In the draws top players of the continent will get advantage as they have been bracketed in such a way so that they do not face each other in the initial rounds.
Our Correspondent