KARACHI: Pakistan’s Dubai-based karateka Saadi Abbas on Monday said he was confident to finish on the “victory podium” in the upcoming Asian Games.
The Asian Games will be held from August 18 to September 2 in the Indonesian cities of Jakarta and Palembang.
“InshaAllah there are medal chances,” Saadi told ‘The News’ in an interview from Dubai. “I will try my best to clinch gold. If I do not take gold then, realistically speaking, I will no doubt be on the victory podium. It’s my dream to win a medal in the Asian Games,” the country’s most successful fighter said.
However, he was quick to add that his division is very tough. “The world’s strong nations including Japan, Iran, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Saudi Arabia and Hong Kong will also field their fighters in my division.
“These are the world’s top-ranked nations in karate. So it’s a bit tough but if I get a little bit of good draw then I can also win the final,” said Saadi.
“I am nowadays training in Dubai. Pakistan’s government is doing nothing. A camp was in operation in Lahore but it has been halted.
“Although this is an off-season in Dubai, as I had to train for the Games so I stayed here. I have also requested the UAE national team to give me training opportunity with it,” Saadi said.
Saadi plays in the -75kg men’s kumite. He has to his credit two gold medals in the Commonwealth Karate Championships and a gold each in the Asian Championship and US Open. He was the only Pakistani player in individual sports to secure silver in the 4th Islamic Games in Baku last year. Last year, Saadi also finished fifth in the World Karate 1 Series A Championship in Istanbul.
About his World Karate Premier League achievements, Saadi said the world’s top 64 who get registered first get a chance.
“In the first three rounds in France, Dubai and the Netherlands I with the grace of Allah was amongs the top 10 out of 100 fighters. I skipped the fourth round in Morocco due to financial issues and that hurt me as my ranking dropped from ten to 17.
“I will now go to Istanbul on June 6 to feature in the fifth round. Those who took part in Morocco improved their ranking and they would be a bit relaxed while I will have to work harder to secure more points.”
Saadi was not happy with the attitude of the government. “The players don’t need anything more. If they are working hard they at least need some encouragement from the government. They need support. I got silver in the Islamic Games but the government did not encourage me and this has slightly hurt me.”
