Pakistani contingent at the 6th Asian Taekwondo Open Championships had a promising start to the tournament with the addition of two medals on the first day of the competition.
Ikhtshamul Haq secured Pakistan’s first silver medal in the (-87 kg) category after Maleeha Ali had claimed a bronze for her team in the women’s division. Ikhtsham narrowly missed out on the gold, succumbing to Malaysia’s Zubair MS in the final with scores of 5-7 and 7-12.
He earned his place in the marquee match-up after a dominant semi-final win over Indonesia’s Azhar Salim, securing victories with the scores of 13-10 and 10-0.
In the men’s -68 kg quarter-finals, Pakistan’s Arbaz Khan lost out to Kazakhstan’s Kassanov Izyat despite winning the first round 8-6 only for Kassanov to bounce back to take the next two rounds 9-7 and 19-7 and advancing to the semi-finals.
Meanwhile, in the women’s -73 kg category, Maleeha Ali put Pakistan in the medal columns after earning the bronze medal after going down to Korea’s Shin Jeongeun, with scores of 3-0 and 4-1 in the semi-finals.
In the women’s -57 kg event, Pakistan’s Noor Fatima lost to the Philippines’ McCann Nicole by the scores of 5-3 and 7-5.
The 16-member Pakistan squad will be hoping for more success in the ongoing Asian Open Taekwondo Championship which will run until October 18th at the Indore Stadium Sports Center in Tangerang, Indonesia.
