Mohammad Sharif Tahir gets silver

BIRMINGHAM: Pakistan’s wrestlers continued picking up medals at the Commonwealth Games but a gold proved elusive yet again. Mohammad Sharif Tahir, in his maiden international event, went closest at the Coventry Arena. But just like compatriot Inam Butt, he couldn’t get a final victory against an opponent from arch-rivals India.

Sharif lost 9-0 to Naveen Kumar in the 74kg final, his defeat coming moments after his team-mate Ali Asad had picked up bronze by swatting New Zealand’s Suraj Singh 11-0 in the 57kg competition.

The Pakistan trio had all advanced to the semi-finals in their individual categories but only Sharif was able to go through to the final.

Sharif began his campaign with an 11-0 victory over Tonga’s John Vake in the round of 16 before overcoming Canadian Jasmit Singh Phulka 5-1 to reach the semis, where he overwhelmed Cole Hawkins 11-0 for a win by technical superiority.

Ali, temporarily, had 10-0 wins in both his last-16 and quarter-final clashes against Harvey Ridings of England and Namibian Romeo Ricardo Goliath, respectively. But he couldn’t advance to the final after falling 4-14 to Ravi.

Tayyab made a similar journey to the 97kg semis, blanking Rashji Mackey and Cameron Nicol 10-0 in his opening two rounds, but Nishan Randhawa proved too strong the Canadian winning 7-0 on points.

Elsewhere, Pakistan’s wait for a first track and field medal at the Games since 1966 continued after Shajar Abbas finished last in the men’s 200m final at the Alexander Stadium on Saturday night.

Trinidad and Tobago’s Jereem Richards defended his title in a Games record time of 19.80 seconds. Shajar’s time was 21.16 seconds.