Saadi confident he will win medal at Asian Games

KARACHI: Dubai-based Pakistan’s premier karateka Saadi Abbas on Monday said that he was confident he would finish on the victory podium in the Asian Games, which is pencilled in for August 18 to September 2 in the Indonesian cities of Jakarta and Palembang.

“There are medal chances,” Saadi told ‘The News’ in an interview from Dubai. “I will try my best to clinch gold. If I could not take gold then realistically speaking I will at least be on the victory podium. It is my aim and dream to win a medal in Asian Games,” the country’s most successful fighter said.

However, he was quick to add that his division was very tough. “Our division is very tough as Japan, Iran, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Saudi Arabia and Hong Kong will field their fighters. These are the world’s top-ranked nations in karate. So it’s a bit tough but if I got good draws then I can also win the final and claim gold. In karate the fighter needs to do his best in three minutes,” said Saadi.

“For these pressure fights I am now-a-days training in Dubai. Pakistan’s government is doing nothing. A camp had been in operation in Lahore but it has been halted. It’s off season in Dubai, but I stayed here as I had to train for the Asian Games. I have requested the UAE national team to give me training opportunity with it so that I could keep my rhythm,” said Saadi, who plays in -75kg men’s kumite. Saadi has won two gold medals in Commonwealth Karate Championships; and one gold each in Asian Championship and US Open. He was the only Pakistani player in individual sports who secured silver in the 4th Islamic Games in Baku last year.

Last year Saadi finished fifth in the World Karate 1 Series A Karate Championship in Istanbul.

About his World Karate Premier League achievements, Saadi said that in that league the world’s top 64 who get registered first get a chance. “In the first three rounds of the league in France, Dubai and Netherlands, I with the grace of Allah was among the top ten out of world’s 100 best fighters. I skipped the fourth round in Morocco because of financial issues, which dragged me down to 17th position,” Saadi said.

“I will go to Istanbul on June 6 to feature in the fifth round. Those who took part in Morocco round improved their ranking and they will be a bit relaxed while I will have to work harder for taking more points,” the fighter explained.

Saadi was not happy with the attitude of the government, saying it had not backed him substantially at any stage of his illustrious career. “If players are working hard they should at least be encouraged by the country they are representing. They need support to prepare for international events. I got silver medal in the Islamic Games but the government did not encourage me,” Saadi said.

“There should be some fixed policy. If an athlete knows that he can get so much cash award if he wins a medal in such and such events then he will work harder,” the athlete said.

Saadi said that he had told Pakistan’s premier wrestler Mohammad Inam to invest in his preparation if he was sure to take gold in the Commonwealth Games in Australia. “The government was not sending wrestlers to Iran for training. Inam had claimed Rs5 million for clinching gold in the 2010 Delhi Commonwealth Games. I told him if he felt he could win gold this time in Australia, he should spend some money from his own pocket and train abroad. Later Pakistan Wrestling Federation (PWF) managed to send the top grapplers to Iran for training, which helped Pakistan get one gold and two bronze in Commonwealth Games,” Saadi recalled.

He added that he had the ability to become the world’s top fighter.“I feel that I have the potential. I have played close matches with most of the world’s top seeds. But I would request the government to take care of athletes as without support it becomes tough for the players to grow,” Saadi said.

“They may now say that the government is changing. There should be a certain sports policy which should not be disturbed with changes at the government level so that the athletes do not have to struggle for their basic needs of training,” Saadi said.