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Wednesday July 09, 2025

Shah, Qaiser fail in Abu Dhabi

By Our Correspondent
October 24, 2022

KARACHI: Pakistan’s frontline judokas Shah Hussain and Qaisar Khan Afridi fell at the first hurdles in the Grand Slam in Abu Dhabi on Sunday.

In the event, which was a qualifying round for the 2024 Paris Olympics, both fighters failed to live up to the billing.

The two-time Tokyo-based Olympian Shah went down to France’s Loris Tassier in his -90 kilogramme first fight with the French taking the fight through Ippon.

The French then went on to qualify for the final. However, he was undone in the gold medal fight by Georgia’s Beka Gviniashvili.

This is the first time that Shah played in -90 kilogramme in an IJF event. He played before that in this weight in the Birmingham Commonwealth Games and Islamic Games recently but those events were not counted as IJF events.

Qaisar lost to World No 42 Otabek Turaboev of Uzbekistan in the -100kg first fight. The Uzbek hit two wazaris which did the job for him.

The Uzbek, however, fell against Kyle Reyes of Canada in his next fight.

“Shah did not click,” a senior official of Pakistan Judo Federation (PJF) told The News after Pakistan’s poor show in the Grand Slam which is graded as the second highest-ranked event in the world’s judo following the World Championship.

“Shah looked a bit weak,” the official was quick to add. “Qaisar played better. He launched attack against a tough opponent,” the official said.

Qaisar and his coach Sajjad Kazemi from Iran left for Perth to feature in the Oceania Open to be held from October 29-30. It’s a Grand Prix, the third highest-ranked event on the IJF calendar.

Shah will have to wait at Abu Dhabi till he gets his Australia visa. This correspondent has learnt that he will continue his training at Abu Dhabi until he gets visa as Monday (today) is a working day and it is expected that his visa will be released. Shah had applied a bit late for Australia visa because he had to get his passport renewed.

If he fails to get his Australia visa then he will be sent to Baku where he will feature in the Grand Slam to be conducted from November 4-6.

Shah has already got Azerbaijan visa.