Shah happy withtraining in Hungary

KARACHI: Olympian judoka Shah Hussain on Sunday said that he was happy with his training in Budapest, Hungary.“Yes, I am happy with the training here as I am learning new things,” Shah told ‘The News’ from Budapest in an interview.

He said he has been learning European style of judo which involves a lot of aggression. “Here training is very different from that in Japan. The style here is very aggressive. I wanted to learn new things and it is a blessing that I am here ahead of the Olympic qualifiers which will begin this summer,” Japan-based Shah said.

He said that that the training would make him a much better fighter for future national duty.Shah reached Budapest on March 6. He is training at the centre of the International Judo Federation (IJF).

Shah said that he was provided with good accommodation and food.“I have a Spanish fighter as my roommate who also speaks English and I am satisfied. My coach belongs to Romania and is very good. If I am able to train here for one and half months I hope it will benefit me a lot,” Shah said.

Shah shot to fame when he secured a silver medal in the -100 kg competitions in the Glasgow Commonwealth Games in 2014. Shah, who has also won a bronze medal in the Asian Championship, wrote history for Pakistan when he became the first ever judoka to qualify for the 2016 Rio Olympics. Pakistan Judo Federation (PJF) also wanted to send Iftikhar Ahmed, Mudassir Ali and Qaiser Afridi along with Shah to Hungary but the three were not issued visas.

“It’s sad but it’s not in our hand,” a senior official of PJF told ‘The News’ on Sunday. The official said that Shah would stay in Hungary until April 17.“He will stay there until April 17 and then will either come to Pakistan or go to Dubai for a night stay before being sent to Nepal for the South Asian Judo Championships which will be held from April 19-26,” the official said.

He added that PJF planned to field seven male and seven female fighters in the Nepal event for which trials would be held at Islamabad on March 24.“We will write to units for trials tomorrow,” the PJF official said.

Meanwhile, Japan-based female judoka Amina Toyoda got injured during training which has put her participation in the Nepal event in doubt.“Amina injured herself in training and we will find out tomorrow whether she will be able to play in the South Asian Championship,” the official said.

The PJF official also said that Pakistan would also feature in the Asian Championships in Lebanon. The championship is scheduled from May 11-15.“We will make every effort to send four fighters for the continental event,” the official said.

He further said that Qaiser would also be sent to Tashkent to take part in the Asian Junior and Cadet Championships to be held there from April 10-14.The South Asian Judo Championship clashes with the National Games slated to be held in Quetta from April 21-29. And the PJF official said if National Games were held in the scheduled time-frame then they would try to conduct judo competitions in the last three days so that Pakistan’s judokas could return from Nepal.An important meeting will be held on March 18 at Peshawar in which things regarding National Games are likely to be decided.