After a year-long hiatus, the Tokyo Olympic Games have finally started, with Pakistani athletes competing today.
The opening ceremony of the Tokyo Olympics is taking place in a stadium that is almost empty. Due to the epidemic of coronavirus, it lacks normal choreography and there was a moment of silence in memory of the victims of Code 19.
Fewer players are participating in the team parade than usual and most of the flag bearers wore masks.
According to a Reuters report, those carrying the Pakistani flag were not wearing masks.
Emperor Naruhito is officially inaugurating the Games, as his grandfather did at the last Tokyo Olympics in 1964. The Japanese emperor and International Olympic Committee (IOC) president Thomas Beck entered the stadium wearing masks and bowed and greeted each other before sitting at a social distance away from each other. Only 15 world leaders are attending the opening ceremony.
Demonstrations continue outside the Tokyo Stadium where the opening ceremony of the Olympics is taking place. A small group of protesters has demanded the cancellation of the Games.
As far as competitions are concerned, the first player to enter the field from Pakistan will be Mahur, who will face former world number one and current world number five Akane Yagamuchi on July 24.
Mahur Shehzad's match will be played at 5.40 am Pakistan time.
On the same day, at 10 a.m. Pakistani time, Pakistani shooter Gulfam Joseph will compete in the men's 100m air pistol qualification.
The next day, July 25, Pakistani weightlifters will compete in the 67kg category. The competitions will start at 3.50 pm Pakistan time.
Talha Talib set a new national record by winning a bronze medal at the Commonwealth Games in 2018. She won a gold medal at the Commonwealth Youth Weightlifting Championships in 2016.
This is the first time since 1976 that a weightlifter is representing Pakistan in the Olympics. In 1976, Arshad Malik last represented Pakistan in the weightlifting category.
Mahur Shehzad will return to the court on July 27 where he will face Christy Glamor of Great Britain and the match will be played at 10 am Pakistan time.
On this day, Pakistani Param Haseeb Tariq will participate in the 100 meter freestyle competition which will be held at 3 pm.
Two days later, on July 29, at 7:00 am, Pakistani judo player Shah Hussain Shah will face Egypt's Ramzan Darwish in the men's 100kg category, which will start at 7:00 am Pakistan time.
Judo master Shah Hussain Shah is the son of Afaq boxer Hussain Shah of Pakistan. Hussain Shah had won a bronze medal in the 1988 Seoul Olympics, after which Pakistan has not won any individual medal in the Olympics.
Shah Hussain Shah won a silver medal at the 2014 Commonwealth Games in Glasgow. He has twice won gold medals at the South Asian Games.
The next day, July 30, at 3:30 pm, swimmer Bismillah Khan will compete in the women's 50m freestyle.
Leading Pakistani shooters Khalil Akhtar and GM Bashir will compete in the men's 25m rapid fire pistol event on August 1 at 4.30 am.
The next day, at 6:30 am on August 2, Pakistani athlete Najma Parveen will compete in the women's 200-meter race.
Najma has competed in the 100m at the Rio de Janeiro Olympics in 2016 and Najma, from Faisalabad, is attached to the Pakistan Army.
Najma Parveen won six gold medals at the 2019 Peshawar National Games. She won one gold, two silver and one bronze medal at the 2019 South Asian Games in Nepal.
On August 4, Pakistan's Arshad Nadeem will compete in the Julian Throw at 5am.
Arshad Nadeem is the only Pakistani athlete to directly qualify for the Tokyo Olympics.
Arshad Nadeem from Mian Channu is associated with WAPDA. Arshad Nadeem had won a gold medal in javelin throw at the Asian Games in Nepal in 2019 by throwing a distance of 86.29 meters while he has also won a bronze medal in the 2018 Asian Games in Jakarta.