As the country was basking in the celebrations after it won the first gold medal in the ongoing Commonwealth Games in Birmingham on the sixth day of this mega sporting event, more honours came Pakistan’s way Wrestlers impressed with a podium-finish performance.

Wrestler Muhammad Sharif Tahir bagged the silver medal for the country in the final of the 74-kilogramme freestyle category. Though he could not score a single point in the final against India’s Naveen, who scored nine points, but reaching the final and winning silver medal is also a great performance. He had made it to the final after comprehensibly outclassing New Zealand’s Cole Hawkins by beating him 11-0.

This victory for Tahir came through a technical superiority, with no point scored by his opponent Cole. Other wrestlers  Muhammad Inam and Zaman Anwar also played magnificently and secured medals, taking the overall tally in wresting by Pakistan to three in the ongoing games. Though the gold medals were within their reach but they could not secure either of them, BUT reaching the finals of the contest in this coveted international sporting extravaganza is indeed a great honour.

All eyes were set on Coventury Arean ahead of the much-hyped Indo-Pak clash  in the Wrestling final but After    could not come up to countrymen’s expectations as he failed to win gold in  +86kg title. Similarly, Zaman Anwar remained gold-less in +125kg final at the Coventry Arena. Earlier, Inataullah won a bronze in the +65kg competition, taking our medal tally to at least five medals which at least saved Pakistan from the earlier embarrassment of a total medals drought during the first five days of the Games when the Pakistan contingent remained medal-less. Sprinter Shajar Abbas is another young talented athlete who was quite capable to fetch a medal.

The 22-year-old athlete made it to the final after a brilliant display of talent in his semi-final at the Alexander Stadium on Friday but later missed on a gold medal in the final.

However, the overall performance by Pak athletes on the sixth and seventh, and eighth days of the games remained great.

 Their performance really added to the jubilant mood of the countrymen, who were already celebrating the first gold medal-winning by Weightlifter Nooh Dastagir Butt, who delivered the first gold medal for the country and the earlier bronze by judoka Shah Hussain Shah.

It may be mentioned here that Pakistan wrestlers and sprinter Shajar had a brilliant chance to add another gold medal to the team’s tally but they faltered in their respective finals,  and it seemed that they could not handle the pressure as it need a lot of perseverance and determination to withstand the final’s pressure which is very as the stakes are high.

They looked far from their best throughout their final performances against their respective opponents.

In the finals, they played a passive game and were not in an attacking mood which may be due to a lack of training and how to take on the opponents under mounting pressures.

Pakistani sprinter Shajar finished last in the finals of 200m event of the Commonwealth Games 2022 in the UK city of Birmingham.

Though Shajar lost the race, it was an honour for the country that he was the only Asian athlete who participated in the 200-metre sprint in the CWG.

  The 29-year-old Shah Hussain, the son of Pakistan’s legendary boxer Hussain Shah, overwhelmed South African Thomas-Laszlo Breyytenbach by ippon — the highest score a fighter can achieve — in their bronze medal bout.    On the other hand, the squash and table tennis players could not come up to expectations as they could not make it to the top.

Similarly, participation was the name of the game for Pak female swimmers Jahanara Nabi, Bisma Khan and Mishael Ayub who could not impress with their at the Commonwealth Games. It may be mentioned here that three out of the total four Pak participants in the swimming category contests at the ongoing Games are women.

Their performance was not the one to fetch them a medal as in the freestyle category, Jahanara Nabi clocked 1:01.51 in women’s 100m freestyle heats. Though she broke her own national record of 1:02.05, since she was participating in the big international sports event for the first time, it is not a bad performance either.

  On the other hand, another female swimmer Bisma Khan, who has good international exposure and had also bagged the silver medal at the 2019 South Asian Games in Nepal, and also took part in the 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo, Japan, also remained medal-less. But for them, participation is an honor and the nation is proud of them to make it to the Games despite all odds.

There is no denying that female athletes do not have access to facilities in our country which does not have proper training facilities even for male athletes.

On the other hand, two other athletes Jamshed and Arshad played in the finals directly. Jamshed contested the shotput finals on August 5 while Arshad was scheduled to play his Javelin Throw finals on August 7 and by the time this piece of writing has published the result of the javelin throw would have been announced.