Pakistan could not strike gold in the Asian Games 2026. It has eluded Pakistan since the national women’s cricket team won the honours in the 2014 Asian Games. It proved a golden dust yet again, although two silver medals, eight bronzes and a 29th finish on the table proved there is more our athletes can do in the regional games. This means Pakistan has improved two places. The last Games in China showed a silver and three bronzes and a 31st finish. Even Afghanistan was better, with a rung above us in 2023.
This is a gradual decline, as Pakistan was once amongst the top nations in the Asian Games. After not attending the inaugural Games in 1951 due to tension with India over Kashmir, Pakistan has featured in every edition. With five golds, six silvers and two bronze medals, Pakistan showed its sporting talent in the 1954 Games in Manila. That was followed by six and eight golds in the next two Asian Games. That tally may not match that of other superpowers like China, Japan and South Korea, but it was still encouraging for a nascent nation.
The 1955 Games included four golds in Athletics as the indomitable Abdul Khaliq stamped his authority in the 100 metres, earning the sobriquet of “the flying bird of Asia.” Pakistan also won a gold in the javelin throw by Mohammad Nawaz. The next Games saw Pakistan winning eight golds. Mubarak Shah made history as the first Pakistani athlete to win two gold medals at a single Asian Games (winning both the 3000-meter steeplechase and the 5000-meter races). But the tally of eight Golds could never be improved, and the slide started from the 1994 Hiroshima Asian Games, where Pakistan failed to win a single medal. An overall medals table shows Pakistan have won 61 medals(gold 6, silver 19, bronze 36) in boxing.
The slump in boxing has been noticeable as we stand nowhere, with pugilists unable to be properly trained and not backed properly. The feckless working of the Pakistan Boxing Federation has cost us medals in a sport where we could achieve more laurels. The downfall in athletics is as noticeable. A tally of 40 medals with 14 golds, 13 silvers, and as many bronzes tells a story of achievement, if not dominance. Pakistan has produced athletes like Khaliq, Abdul Razzaq, Mubarak, Mohammad Younis et. al., but the production factory was shut down by poor negligence. Wrestling has accumulated 34, Squash 12 and sailing 10 medals, showing that these are disciplines where we should have invested more to fetch more medals. Coming back to the recent Games, the build-up was chaotic and disappointing.
The Pakistan Sports Board was reluctant to fund the players due to a lack of funds and told a number of Federations to finance their players. Some were allowed to go on a self-financed basis, resulting in a 55-year-old, yes, a 55-year-old Nausheen Aslam, representing Pakistan in table tennis. Not surprisingly, she bowed out in the first round. She not only became an embarrassment for the country but also stunted the progress of a young girl who would have learnt through her representation at this level.
Pakistan had a chance to strike gold in men’s cricket when they met arch-rivals India in the final, but beating India has become an unrealizable task for us. Pakistan did show some fight in the final but ended as the second-best team and had to contend with a medal of silver hue. Pakistan Cricket Board must invite military trainers to show the players how not to take pressure from India. The Asian Games T20I match was the 18th between the rivals, and India have ended on a winning side 15 times! Pakistan have lost seven straight T20Is, which is concerning. The most heartening progress is shown by the volleyball team.
The Volleyball Federation, led by Chaudhry Yaqoob, managed the team well. They arranged a good coach in Spain’s LuisAlberto Toribio Gutierrez, who tuned the players well. An extensive training camp made the players ready for the challenge. The best part of volleyball progress was a win over arch-rivals India, and despite Pakistan having a better ranking – 39to India’s 49 – the pressure of handling effectively was evident in the Murad Jehan-led team. That Pakistan beat a higher-ranked China was great progress. It earned Pakistan a bronze medal – first for the country since 1962. Pakistan volleyball deserves more funding and attention. Pakistan Hockey Federation (PHF) under Mohyuddin Wani has also worked efficiently. Pakistan returned to the victory podium after 2014 and could have earned a higher place than a third finish.
Pakistan fought valiantly against arch-rivals and could have won had two golden chances not been missed in the dying moments. Instead, India clinched the game 4-3 with a last-minute goal. Still, a bronze medal augurs well for the future. PHF planning a hockey league will further give the national sport a fillip it desperately needs. Despite the Pakistan Squash Federation trumpeting a return to the podium in individual events, the sport still lags far behind in terms of regional supremacy. “We used to send junior players to squash in the Asian Games, and now the situation is that we lose to India and Malaysia and have to contend with a bronze in the individual event, ”rued legendary squash player Jahangir Khan. Noor Zaman, who last year won the World Under-23 championship, went down to Malaysian player Eain Yow Ng, but the manner in which he played the last two games in a non-serious and nonchalant way must be condemned. Pakistan did win a silver in the team event, losing to Malaysia in the final.
The last Asian Games saw Kashmala Talat win a bronze medal. This time Ghulam Bashir won a bronze in the25-m pistol event. Shooting has been a success story, but the standards have stagnated, and we are not progressing beyond a third or fourth finish. All said and done, the worst part of the Nagoya Asian Games was the failure of Javelin champion Arshad Nadeem. He promised a lot but delivered nothing and finished a poor fourth, not even coming to a podium finish. Arshad’s flat-linedness has capped our failure. Pakistan sportspersons progress two steps but regress four steps in a jiffy. That has to be addressed through concerted efforts, or else we will continue to finish outside the best20 countries on the medal tables of the Asian Games.
