Rented bikes and the wrong tri-suits: meet Pakistan's first women triathletes at the Asian Games

Pakistan did not win a triathlon medal at the 20th Asian Games in Aichi-Nagoya, Japan. But two women made history simply by being on the start line.

Sana Arif and Anisha Ali became Pakistan’s first female triathletes at the Asian Games, racing alongside male teammates Ali Hassan, Mohid Sadiq Lone and Muhammad Mustaghis Noor, according to Minute Mirror and Emra News.

A triathlon is swimming, cycling and running back-to-back, one of the toughest events in any multi-sport games.

Sana Arif: from holiday to the Asian Games

Sana was born in Kuwait, grew up in Lahore and later moved back to Kuwait, where she trained mostly on her own. She only took up swimming in 2021, and has since completed three Ironman 70.3 races, each a 1.9km swim, 90km ride and 21km run.

Her selection is a story in itself. She was in Pakistan on holiday when a friend told her about national team trials. She turned up, and a week later the Pakistan Triathlon Federation confirmed her place.

She said athletes from other countries helped calm her nerves, as the short sprint format was very different from the long races she was used to.

Anisha Ali: from Hunza

Anisha, 26, comes from Hunza and has competed in judo, martial arts, rowing, tug-of-war and fencing. Even so, she found the mix of swimming, cycling and running a whole new challenge.

She said many talented girls, especially in rural and mountain areas, have no training facilities, qualified coaches, money or safe places to play sport, and hopes seeing Pakistani women compete abroad will inspire them.

The hard part

The team’s preparation was far from ideal:

• They rode rented bicycles.
• The tri-suits they were given were not suitable for the sport.
• They had very little time to prepare.

Sana put it bluntly: “If Pakistan wants competitive Asian Games athletes, they shouldn’t start receiving support six months before the event.”

Some people criticised the team for coming home without medals. Sana said she chose to focus on the support instead.

Why this matters

Pakistan’s sporting conversation is mostly cricket, and sometimes hockey and javelin. Stories like this show there is talent in sports we rarely talk about, from Hunza to the Pakistani diaspora in the Gulf. The question now is whether federations and sponsors back them for the next four years, not just the last six months.