Nagoya, September 29, 2026: Pakistan won their fifth medal at the Aichi-Nagoya Asian Games on Tuesday when their PUBG Mobile team secured bronze in the esports competition at the Aichi Sky Expo in Tokoname.
Pakistan finished third in the 12-match competition with 100 points, behind gold medallists Thailand with 128 points and silver medallists China with 114.
Pakistan secured bronze after finishing third in the final match with 12 points, including four placement points and eight elimination points. Japan won the match with 18 points, while Thailand finished second with 14.
The medal takes Pakistan’s tally at the Games to five bronzes, with the women’s cricket team, modern MMA fighter Asim Khan, squash players Noor Zaman and Ashab Irfan, and the PUBG Mobile team all contributing to the haul.
The women’s cricket team won its medal on September 22 after defeating Bangladesh by 31 runs, while Noor Zaman and Ashab Irfan secured bronze medals by reaching the men’s singles squash semi-finals.
Pakistan’s PUBG Mobile team, comprising Mohammad Huzaifa, Shayan Asad, Falak Sher, Hasnain Rehman and Syed Sameer, finished strongly after entering the second day in medal contention.
They collected 61 points from the final six matches to finish on 100, having accumulated 39 points on the opening day. Their best returns on Tuesday included 16 points in the seventh match, 10 each in the eighth and ninth, 12 in the 11th and 12 in the final match.
Thailand’s consistency saw them finish 28 points ahead of Pakistan, while China secured silver with a 14-point advantage over Pakistan.
Vietnam and Indonesia finished joint fourth with 95 points, followed by South Korea with 71, Chinese Taipei with 62 and Jordan with 61.
The bronze marks Pakistan’s first podium finish in an esports discipline at the Games. PUBG Mobile was contested as a medal event, with 12 teams competing over two days and the final standings determined by aggregate points from 12 matches.
Pakistan volleyball team push Japan before 3-0 defeat
Pakistan’s volleyball team ended their Pool A campaign with a 3-0 defeat to hosts Japan at the Okazaki Chuo Sogo Park Gymnasium, but pushed the tournament favourites to the limit in a fiercely contested opening set.
Japan won 29-27, 25-20, 25-22 in a match lasting one hour and 23 minutes.
The first set was the highlight as Pakistan matched Japan point for point and saved multiple set points before the hosts finally prevailed 29-27 after 29 minutes. It was the closest any team had come to taking a set off Japan in the pool stage.
Japan then took the second set 25-20 in 26 minutes before closing out the match 25-22 in the third.
Pakistan outside hitter Ali Usman led the scoring with 13 points, while Musawer Khan added 11 and opposite Murad Khan contributed 10.
Japan finished with 79 total points to Pakistan’s 69. Japan edged the spikes 89-86, while Pakistan led the reception battle 62-60. Both teams recorded three service points, while Japan committed 23 errors compared with Pakistan’s 19.
Pakistan had opened their campaign with a 3-1 victory over Kazakhstan before beating Uzbekistan 3-0 on Monday. Their final Pool A position will be confirmed after the remaining fixtures.
Pakistan women’s squash team suffer two defeats
Pakistan’s women’s squash team suffered two defeats on Tuesday, losing to South Korea in their Pool B fixture before going down to Macao, China in the stage-one round-robin at the Nagoya Kinjo Futo Arena.
Against South Korea, Mahnoor Ali, Sana Bahadur and Mehwish Ali all lost in straight games.
Mahnoor, 13, went down 11-2, 11-4, 11-7 to 30-year-old Hwayeong Eum in 18 minutes.
Sana was then beaten 11-5, 11-5, 11-8 by Mingyeong Heo in 19 minutes, before Mehwish lost 11-3, 11-8, 11-5 to Dami Kim.
Later against Macao, Mahnoor lost her opening match 11-9, 11-3, 12-10 to Wain Leng Yeung.
Sana won the opening game 11-4 against Weng Chi Yeung but the Macao player fought back to win the next three games 11-6, 11-7, 11-6.
Sehrish replaced her sister Mehwish for the third match but lost a close contest to Chi Cheng Cao 4-11, 13-11, 15-13, 11-7.
Pakistan had opened with a 3-0 defeat to Hong Kong on Monday before beating Mongolia by the same score later in the day.
Shoaib exits tennis singles after rain delay
Pakistan’s Mohammad Shoaib exited the men’s singles competition after losing 6-4, 6-4 to Indonesia’s Rifqi Fitriadi in the round of 32 at the Higashiyama Park Tennis Centre.
The match had been suspended on Monday with Shoaib leading the first set 4-3. Fitriadi returned on Tuesday to complete the victory in one hour and eight minutes of play.
Fitriadi won 74 total points to Shoaib’s 65 and also held a slight advantage in aces, hitting four compared with Shoaib’s three. Both players committed two double faults.
Shoaib later partnered Aqeel Khan in the men’s doubles, but the Pakistani pair lost 6-3, 6-2 to Chinese Taipei’s Yu-hsiou Hsu and Chenjui Ho.
