In the kabbadi’s Group B fixture at the Tokai Citizen Gymnasium, Pakistan dismantled Malaysia 65-22, racing to a 38-11 lead by half-time before adding 27 more in the second period. The national side also recorded 10 all-out points in a dominant display.

Pakistan face Nepal, who lost 48-59 to Thailand, on Tuesday.

Pakistan’s first medal of this edition came in Modern Mixed Martial Arts (MMA) event, where Asim lost his semi-final bout to Mirzobek Umarov of Tajikistan in the -60kg category at the Nagoya City Inae Sports Centre.

He had already confirmed bronze by reaching the last-four on Sunday, beating Sopanha Pheng of Cambodia in the quarter-final.

In the pool, Hamza Asif failed to progress from the 50m freestyle heats, finishing second in his heat in 24.04 seconds, 0.13 seconds behind Alan Muhin of Turkmenistan.

Overall, his time placed him 30th, well outside the cutoff — Singapore’s Jonathan Tan was the last to qualify in 10th place with 22.43.

Pakistan’s woes in the table tennis team event continued, with the men’s side also finishing winless after a 3-0 defeat to India on Monday.

Mohammad Khan lost 11-4, 11-3, 11-5 to Harmeet Desai, while Abbas Khan went down to Sathiyan Gnanasekaran 11-1, 11-8, 11-9. Taimur Khan was then beaten by Payas Jain 11-2, 11-5, 11-7.

The women’s team fared no better in the doubles event, as the duo of Fatima Khan and Aleena Khan lost 11-5, 11-1, 11-4 to North Korea’s Gyong Song Pyon and Im Jong Choe.

There was more disappointment in the soft tennis mixed doubles at the Higashiyama Park Tennis Centre, where Pakistan were swept aside.

The duo of Sabrina Khan and Rafae Bashir were outclassed by Indonesia’s Rizky Laluyan and Allif Nafiiah 4-1, 4-1, 4-0, 4-0, 4-1 in just nine minutes.

The pairing of Kainaat Shallwani and Hamza Arain also lost both of their matches 5-0, going down to South Korea and the Philippines.

Against Hyunsoo Kim and Sujin Lee, Pakistan lost all five sets 4-0, while the Philippines’ Noelle Manalac and Samuel Nuguit won 4-2, 4-0, 4-0, 4-0, 4-1.

In the mixed relay triathlon, Pakistan’s quartet of Anisha, Noor Mohammed Mustaghis, Sana Arif and Ali Hassan were unable to finish the race.

The development came as Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi, who headed to Tehran earlier in the day, met with Iranian counterpart Eskandar Momeni.

According to the interior ministry, the two exchanged views on “Pakistan-Iran bilateral relations and the latest situation in the region”.

The statement said the Iranian minister thanked Chief of Defence Forces (CDF) and Chief of the Army Staff Field Marshal Asim Munir and Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif for their efforts towards advancing peace in the region.

“We are grateful for Pakistan’s continuous efforts to establish peace in the region,” Momeni was cited as saying, adding that the visit from the Pakistani side was “beneficial”.

The ministers also reviewed progress on the ongoing cooperation between their interior ministries in various sectors, the statement added.

Naqvi, meanwhile, said that “bilateral relations will become even stronger” between Pakistan and Iran in the coming days.

Earlier, Iranian media outlets reported that Naqvi had arrived in Tehran and was received at the airport by Momeni.

Naqvi’s visit to Tehran comes as Pakistan continues its diplomatic efforts to rescue the Islamabad Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) signed in July between the United States and Iran and intended to end the conflict that began with US-Israeli attacks on Iran in late February.

Although Pakistan has been pivotal in facilitating talks and the interim ceasefire over the course of the conflict, Iranian state broadcaster IRIB cited the country’s foreign ministry spokesperson Esmaeil Baqaei as saying on Saturday that Naqvi’s visit would “focus on bilateral relations, and there is no plan to exchange any specific messages regarding mediation”.

In July, Naqvi met with Momeni as the latter undertook an official visit to Pakistan, where the two reviewed bilateral relations, trade, regional developments and avenues for cooperation.

During an intense fire exchange between a “security forces convoy and Khwarij”, 23-year-old Captain Abuzar Farooq from Gujranwala and 22-year-old Lieutenant Sheraz Babar of Chakwal, “who were leading their troops from the front, fought gallantly and paid the ultimate sacrifice and embraced martyrdom along with their four men”.

On the other hand, “eight Khwarij belonging to Indian-sponsored Fitna al Khwarij were sent to hell due to effective engagement by own troops”, the ISPR statement added.

The state uses the term Fitna al Khawarij for the banned Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP).

A sanitisation operation was being conducted to eliminate any other terrorist found in the area, ISPR said.

It affirmed that the “relentless counterterrorism campaign under vision ‘Azm-i- Istehkam’ (as approved by Federal Apex Committee on National Action Plan) by security forces and law enforcement agencies of Pakistan will continue at full pace to wipe out the menace of foreign-sponsored and supported terrorism from the country”.

“These sacrifices of our brave soldiers further reinforce our unwavering commitment to safeguarding our nation at all costs,” the military’s media wing stated.

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