Five out of ten Pakistani athletes eliminated from Tokyo Olympics
July 29, 2021
- Shooter Gulfam Joseph finishes at 9th position.
- Weightlifter Talha Talib ranks 5th.
- 5 more athletes to compete between July 30 and August 4.
Out of the ten Pakistani athletes who went to represent the country at the Tokyo Olympics 2020, five have been eliminated from the Games without winning any medals.
The first Pakistani athlete to be eliminated was shooter Gulfam Joseph, who competed in the 10m air-pistol shooting competition. As per the rules, eight out of the 36 shooters had to qualify for the final round. Gulfam had a tie with Shooters no.7 and no.8 from China and Serbia, respectively, with the same score of 578/600. Due to a very small difference, Gulfam was edged out and finished the competition at the 9th position.
Mahoor Shahzad, who competed for the first time in the Olympics, could not win a single match. She was first defeated by a Japanese player, followed by England's Christie, after which she was knocked out of the event.
The third athlete to be eliminated was weightlifter Talha Talib. Talha Talib excelled in the event, lifting a total of 320 kilogrammes. He held the gold medal spot until the final round where he finished fifth. He was defeated by Italian weightlifter, Marko Zanni who bagged the bronze medal with 322 kilogrammes.
Swimmer Haseeb Tariq was contesting in heats for the men’s 100m freestyle swimming. He finished at the 62nd position out of the total of 70.
Pakistani judoka Shah Hussain Shah was defeated by the Egyptian judoka Ramadan Darwish in the first round, crushing Shah’s hopes for securing a medal. Shah could only last in the match for three minutes and nine seconds. Shah is the son of Hussain Shah, who won Pakistan a bronze medal at the 1998 Seoul Olympics.
With five athletes eliminated, five more still remain in the competition. Swimmer Bismillah Khan will be in action for the 50m freestyle tomorrow.
On August 1, shooters Khalil Akhtar and Ghulam Bashir will compete in the 25-meter rapid fire pistol competition.
Najma Parveen will compete in a two-metre race on August 2.
August 4 will see Arshad Nadeem in action in the javelin throw. Arshad is the only Pakistani athlete to have directly qualified for the Tokyo Olympics.
