Pakistan volleyball captain Murad Jehan criticised the organisers of the Aichi-Nagoya Asian Games on Monday after his team were taken to the wrong venue shortly before their Pool ‘A’ match against Uzbekistan, while Pakistan’s hockey side finished their pool campaign with a commanding 7-2 victory over Oman.

The volleyball team were taken to the wrong gymnasium by their bus driver, leaving the players with little time to warm up before the match. In a video posted on Instagram, a visibly frustrated Murad described the episode as “another mismanagement” and said players had been forced to change into their playing kits on the moving bus.

“We have a very important match and the bus driver doesn’t know which gymnasium we are going to play,” he said. “He took a wrong way and came to a wrong gymnasium and now we are short of time. It’s an embarrassing situation.”

Murad said the team had not expected such problems in Japan and added that food was also not always available at dining areas after training sessions.

“This is not the only mismanagement that athletes are facing here,” he said.

The organisers did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment.

Pakistan, however, brushed aside the disruption to secure their second successive victory, defeating Uzbekistan 25-18, 25-18, 25-20 at the Okazaki Chuo Sogo Park Gymnasium.

Murad led Pakistan’s scoring with 14 points, while Musawer Khan contributed 13, Usman Faryad Ali 10 and Mohammad Hamad 11. Pakistan produced 48 successful spikes and dominated at the net, scoring 18 points from blocks compared to Uzbekistan’s five.

The victory followed Sunday’s 3-1 win over Kazakhstan and leaves Pakistan with two victories from two matches ahead of their final Pool A game against hosts Japan.

Complaints about logistics have been a recurring feature of the Games, with the chief organiser apologising on Saturday for widespread operational glitches. He attributed the problems to a late influx of around 2,000 additional athletes and team officials, which had overwhelmed preparations.

Hockey side finish strongly

Pakistan completed their Asian Games hockey pool campaign with a commanding 7-2 victory over Oman, recovering from their defeat by Malaysia to finish the group stage strongly and keep their medal hopes alive.

Pakistan completed their Asian Games hockey pool campaign with a commanding 7-2 victory over Oman, recovering from their defeat by Malaysia to finish the group stage strongly and keep their medal hopes alive.

Rana Waheed scored a hat-trick, while Sufyan Khan struck twice from penalty corners — taking his tournament tally to 11 goals in five matches. Ghazanfar Ali and Mohammad Ammad added a goal apiece.

Pakistan could not break the deadlock in the first quarter, with Sufyan missing from a penalty corner before Oman goalkeeper Ibrahim Al Farsi saved efforts from Hannan Shahid, Abu Mahmood and Sufyan as the opening period ended goalless.

Al Farsi denied Hannan and Rana again early in the second, but penalty corner specialist Sufyan finally broke through in the 22nd minute.

Oman shocked Pakistan when Al Baraa Al Nofli equalised in the 27th, only for Sufyan to strike again from a penalty corner barely a minute later.

Pakistan added three more in the third quarter. Rana’s shot was saved early, but he got on the scoresheet in the 34th minute from a penalty corner.

Oman pressed for a way back, with efforts from Aliyas Al-Noufali, Maitham Al Wahaibi and Rashad Al Fazari kept out before Aiman Madit finally scored in the 36th.

Ghazanfar then restored Pakistan’s two-goal cushion with a field goal, and Rana added another from a penalty corner in the 44th.

Pakistan began the final quarter with a field goal from Ammad, and Rana completed his hat-trick right before full time from Pakistan’s 11th penalty corner of the match.

Pakistan had earlier beaten Thailand 9-0, Uzbekistan 5-1 and China 3-0 before suffering their only defeat, a 5-4 loss to Malaysia. Monday’s victory took their pool-stage record to four wins from five matches.

The top two teams from each pool advance to the semi-finals, with the last-four matches scheduled for Oct 1.

Squash teams open with wins

Pakistan’s squash teams also made winning starts to their respective pool campaigns.

Pakistan’s men opened their campaign in commanding fashion, beating the Philippines and Kuwait 3-0, with bronze medallists Noor Zaman and Mohammad Ashab Irfan, alongside veteran Nasir Iqbal, all winning their ties in straight games.

Nasir set the tone against the Philippines, beating Van Aero Dalida 11-7, 11-1, 11-4.

After trading points early, he pulled 5-1 clear before Dalida clawed back three to close to 6-5. The 32-year-old responded with three consecutive points and, though Dalida again reduced the deficit, wrapped up the first game 11-7 in eight minutes.

He was even more ruthless in the second, reeling off nine straight points to take it 11-1, before closing out the third 11-4 on his first match point.

Noor then stepped up with the chance to seal the tie, racing to a four-point lead over David Pelino before taking the opening game 11-4 in five minutes.

The second was a seesaw until Noor ended it with seven consecutive points to win 11-5, and though the third proved tighter — Pelino leading 6-3 before Noor drew level — the 22-year-old closed it out 11-9 on his second match point to give Pakistan an unassailable 2-0 lead.

That left Ashab to round off the tie against Jonathan Reyes, and the bronze medallist wasted little time, racing to a four-point lead and extending it to 9-2 before taking the first game 11-4.

Reyes drew first blood in the second, but Ashab levelled immediately and edged ahead to take it 11-9 on his first game point.

In the third, after the pair traded points and Reyes briefly led, Ashab fired eight consecutive points to wrap up the perfect victory 11-4.

The trio returned later to face Kuwait and again emerged victorious. Nasir once more gave Pakistan a bright start, beating Jassim Alghareeb 11-4, 11-1, 11-5.

Noor then dropped the first game against Ammar Altamimi 11-8, but the World U-23 champion responded strongly, levelling with an 11-6 second game before wrapping up victory 11-2, 11-4 in the next two.

Ashab kept Pakistan perfect, downing Bader Almoghrebi 13-11, 11-5, 11-9.

In the women’s event, Pakistan lost their opening fixture 3-0 to Hong Kong before bouncing back with a comfortable 3-0 win over Mongolia.

Against Hong Kong, Mehwish Ali lost to Yee Lam Toby Tse 11-3, 11-8, 11-9 in 19 minutes, Sana Bahadur went down comprehensively to Sin Yuk Chan 11-5, 11-1, 11-1 in 16 minutes and Mahnoor Ali lost the third tie to Tze Lok Ho 11-5, 11-9, 11-3 in 18 minutes.

They responded strongly against Mongolia, winning all three ties in straight sets.

Mehwish overpowered Khongorzul Bat-Erdene 11-3, 11-2, 11-3, before Sana dispatched Ariunbileg Altankhuyag 11-4, 11-0, 11-3. Mahnoor then completed the sweep with an 11-2, 11-2, 11-2 triumph over Oyungerel Khasbaatar.

Pakistan had entered the team events after winning two bronze medals in the men’s singles through Noor and Ashab Irfan.

Noor beat Ashab 3-0 in the third-place playoff on Sunday, with the two players sharing the bronze medals after losing their respective semi-finals.

Rabia finishes 33rd in pistol

There was little joy for Pakistan in shooting as Rabia Kabir finished 33rd in the women’s 25m pistol qualification with a score of 567-13x.

Ayesha was unable to progress to the final, which was led by Iran’s Haniyeh Rostamiyan with 587-25x.

Pakistan also finished seventh in the PUBG Mobile Asian Games competition, accumulating four points in the completed results. China won the event with 20 points, ahead of Japan and South Korea.

Pakistan’s attention now turns to athletics, with Olympic champion Arshad Nadeem set to compete in the men’s javelin final alongside compatriot Mohammad Yasir. Ansar Abbas will also contest the men’s long jump final after qualifying with a personal-best 7.28 metres.

Doubles disappointment in tennis

At the Higashiyama Park Tennis Centre, Pakistan’s Aisam-ul-Haq Qureshi and Muzammil Murtaza lost their men’s doubles first-round fixture to South Korea’s Seongchan Hong and Soonwoo Kwon 7-5, 6-4.

The women’s pair of Ushna Sohail and Mahin Aftab Qureshi also fell in the first round, going down to Mongolia 6-1, 6-0.