Sinan bags taekwondo silver for Pakistan

Dubai: UAE-based Pakistani player Sinan Ashfaq won silver medal for his country at the recently concluded Sofia Open Taekwondo Championship in Bulgaria, says a press release.

It was Sinan’s fourth medal for Pakistan in the last four months. Sinan won semi-final with a big margin of 18 points beating Theocharis Papapanagiotou from Greece in the plus 65 weight category in the Cadet Division.

He surprised the audience with his skills against a very strong opponent. Unfortunately, he narrowly missed as he lost to Dimitrije Ajdukovic from Serbia in the final after giving tough time to his opponent despite his foot injury.

Sinan’s winning spree continued this year as he won silver medal in Belgium Open in March, gold medal in the UAE National Championship in Sharjah in February and a gold medal in the Fujairah International Championship in January this year. Sinan is the first Pakistani player in the cadet category to win medals in Europe.

Sinan’s next target is the Asian Cadet Taekwondo World Cup in Jordan in July and the Cadet Taekwondo World Cup in Tashkent in August this year.

The 13-year-old Sharjah boy had opened with a bronze for Pakistan at the President’s World Taekwondo Championship held in Tashkent in August 2017. Sinan is also a high performing student at the North American International School in Dubai.

“I am happy with my performance but also sad for not winning the gold for my country. I will work even harder to win medals for Pakistan in the upcoming events,” he said.

Sinan dedicated his medal to Prime Minister Imran Khan and also thanked the Pakistan Taekwondo Federation its support.

Sinan’s coach Abdullah Hatim, UAE National Team Coach and Technical Director at Sharjah Sports Club, commended Sinan’s performance considering that it was a G1 event with participation of more than 900 athletes from over 40 countries.

“Sinan is a rising star and he can bring great honours for his country if he continues to work hard,” he added.