LAHORE: Pakistan’s sprint sensation and national record holder Shajar Abbas has set his eyes on qualifying for the 2024 Paris Olympics.
The 22-year-old athlete is undergoing hectic training here at the Punjab Stadium for the local and international meets to be held during the next few months.
“In 2024 you know Olympics will be held in Paris and my main target is to earn an Olympics seat,” Shajar told ‘The News’ in an exclusive interview here on Sunday. “It's not difficult to qualify for the Olympics and inshaAllah I will do it,” Shajar was quick to add.
“I have set national records in both the 100m and 200m. My 100m best timing is 10.38 seconds. I registered 10.26 seconds in the Islamic Games in Turkey but due to electronic machine issue it was not accepted,” Shajar said.
The Olympics standard for 100m is 10:00 seconds while 20.16 seconds is for 200m. “A great effort is needed to bring down your timing. If we are provided with top facilities then the timing comes down quickly but you know we lack proper facilities and this impedes our constant growth,” said Shajar, who belongs to Tehsil Pattoki of District Kasur.
He set national records in both 100m and 200m at the XXXII Qosanov Memorial in Almaty last year. In this event he set national record in the 100m by clocking 10.38 seconds on June 25, and smashed national record in the 200m as well with a timing of 20.87 seconds on June 26.
He also equalled his 100m record in the Commonwealth Games in Birmingham on August 2, 2022 at the Alexander Stadium. On August 4, 2022, also in Birmingham he clocked 21.12 seconds in the 200m race in which he qualified for the finals, becoming the first Pakistani to do so in the history of the event.
The Asian Championships, Asian Games and the World Championships (if he is able to qualify) to be held this year are vital for Shajar if he is to achieve his Olympics dreams.
“I will represent Pakistan in the Asian Championships later this summer. It will be followed by the World Championships for which I will try to qualify as qualifying rounds have started. Then at Asian Games I would like to pull off my best and if it is done it may land me on the medal podium,” Shajar said.
The Asian Championships will be held in Pattaya, Thailand, from July 12-16. The World Championships will be conducted by Hungary in Budapest from August 19-27 and the Asian Games are pencilled in for September 23 to October 8 in Hangzhou, China.
Shajar also set national record in the 60m with a timing of 6.75 seconds in the 10th Asian Indoor Athletics Championship in Nuristan, Kazakhstan, on February 11, 2023, and also got overall seventh position in the continent.
Shajar, who will represent WAPDA in the 34th National Games later this month in Quetta, said that he worked hard in Ramadan during the camp backed by the Pakistan Sports Board (PSB).
“In Ramadan I trained harder at night. Now we begin training at 3:30 pm and I follow my coach’s guidelines,” said Shajar, who is in Grade-16 in WAPDA.
He said they need facilities for development. “We are not inferior to other nations in potential but we don’t have facilities which are required for developing an athlete. We need a full-fledged support staff including physio on international tours which will help us further enhance our performance,” said Shajar, who is doing his BS Honours in Sports Sciences from the University of Central Punjab.
“When I came from the Commonwealth Games in Birmingham to the Islamic Games in Turkey I faced a big issue of recovery. Had I got the assistance of a physio I could have done well in the Islamic Games as well,” Shajar said.
“India has big facilities. Sri Lankan athletes mostly undergo training abroad and the athlete from Bangladesh who recently got gold in the 60m in the Asian Indoor Championship is also undergoing training in the UK. The way these nations send their athletes abroad for training if we are also sent abroad then we can also produce medals at the continental and world level,” Shajar signed off.