Asian Games: Pakistan off to flying start in hockey, poor show in other sports

Pakistan’s men’s hockey team opened their Asian Games campaign in emphatic fashion on Sunday, dismantling Thailand 9-0 in a pool ‘B’ encounter that quickly turned into a procession at the Gifu Prefectural Green Stadium. Ahmed Nadeem helped himself to a hat-trick, while Sufyan Khan struck twice from penalty corners as Pakistan controlled the match from the first whistle and never allowed Thailand a meaningful chance. Moeen Shakeel opened the floodgates in the eighth minute, with Ammad Butt doubling the lead four minutes later. Nadeem got his first in the 20th, before Sufyan Khan struck twice in two minutes to leave Thailand reeling.

Rana Waheed (31st) and Abdul Hanan Shahid (34th) got on the scoresheet in a relentless third quarter, and Ahmed completed his hat-trick with goals in the 37th and 43rd minutes to put the finishing touches on the rout. In the pool on Sunday, Pakistan’s campaign got off to a disappointing start, with all three of the country’s contestants failing to advance from their heats at the Tokyo Aquatic Centre. Hamza Asif finished second in his 100m freestyle heat in 53. 97 seconds, behind Mongolia’s Ninjin Enkhbaatar, who touched in 53. 41. He went out in 25. 19 seconds at the halfway mark but faded over the closing length. Overall, Hamza placed 35th among 43 swimmers. In the women’s 50m breaststroke, national champion Hareem Malik finished last in her heat clocking 36. 52…