Asian Games: Pakistan kabaddi team cruise past Malaysia as Asim Khan takes MMA bronze

Pakistan’s kabaddi team opened their Asian Games campaign in commanding fashion on Monday, while Asim Khan’s run in the MMA event ended in the semi-finals with a bronze already secured.

In the kabbadi’s Group B fixture at the Tokai Citizen Gymnasium, Pakistan dismantled Malaysia 65-22, racing to a 38-11 lead by half-time before adding 27 more in the second period. The national side also recorded 10 all-out points in a dominant display.

Pakistan face Nepal, who lost 48-59 to Thailand, on Tuesday.

Pakistan’s first medal of this edition came in Modern Mixed Martial Arts (MMA) event, where Asim lost his semi-final bout to Mirzobek Umarov of Tajikistan in the -60kg category at the Nagoya City Inae Sports Centre.

He had already confirmed bronze by reaching the last-four on Sunday, beating Sopanha Pheng of Cambodia in the quarter-final.

In the pool, Hamza Asif failed to progress from the 50m freestyle heats, finishing second in his heat in 24.04 seconds, 0.13 seconds behind Alan Muhin of Turkmenistan.

Overall, his time placed him 30th, well outside the cutoff — Singapore’s Jonathan Tan was the last to qualify in 10th place with 22.43.

Pakistan’s woes in the table tennis team event continued, with the men’s side also finishing winless after a 3-0 defeat to India on Monday.

Mohammad Khan lost 11-4, 11-3, 11-5 to Harmeet Desai, while Abbas Khan went down to Sathiyan Gnanasekaran 11-1, 11-8, 11-9. Taimur Khan was then beaten by Payas Jain 11-2, 11-5, 11-7.

The women’s team fared no better in the doubles event, as the duo of Fatima Khan and Aleena Khan lost 11-5, 11-1, 11-4 to North Korea’s Gyong Song Pyon and Im Jong Choe.

There was more disappointment in the soft tennis mixed doubles at the Higashiyama Park Tennis Centre, where Pakistan were swept aside.

The duo of Sabrina Khan and Rafae Bashir were outclassed by Indonesia’s Rizky Laluyan and Allif Nafiiah 4-1, 4-1, 4-0, 4-0, 4-1 in just nine minutes.

The pairing of Kainaat Shallwani and Hamza Arain also lost both of their matches 5-0, going down to South Korea and the Philippines.

Against Hyunsoo Kim and Sujin Lee, Pakistan lost all five sets 4-0, while the Philippines’ Noelle Manalac and Samuel Nuguit won 4-2, 4-0, 4-0, 4-0, 4-1.

In the mixed relay triathlon, Pakistan’s quartet of Anisha, Noor Mohammed Mustaghis, Sana Arif and Ali Hassan were unable to finish the race.