Commonwealth Championships: PJF plans to field judokas in all categories

KARACHI: Pakistan plans to field judokas in all categories of the Commonwealth Judo Championships which India is scheduled to host in Jaipur in November.

A senior official of Pakistan Judo Federation (PJF) told ‘The News’ on Monday that the PJF had already written to the organisers for the visa support letter.

“We are willing to field judokas in all categories of the event. If things go in the right direction we will ensure our full-fledged participation in the competitions,” Masood Ahmed, PJF’s vice-president and media director, told this correspondent.

He said the PJF had also filed a case for NOC with the Pakistan Sports Board (PSB).Masood said that on the sidelines of the event the elections for the Commonwealth Judo Association would also be held. “Pakistan will contest for an Executive Committee seat. We are yet to decide who will run for this post,” said Masood, a former PJF secretary.

The Commonwealth Judo Championships will be contested in seniors, masters, juniors and cadet categories.Masood also revealed that in order to see a few national judokas in the 2020 Olympics the PJF would request the PSB to assist the federation in fielding its leading fighters in the Olympic qualifiers which will begin from next year.

Olympian Shah Hussain Shah, Qaiser Afridi and Amina Toyoda are considered capable of qualifying for Tokyo Games.Japan-based Shah featured in the 2016 Rio Games — the first Pakistani judoka to compete at Olympic level. The son of former Pakistan Olympic medallist boxer Hussain Shah had qualified for the prestigious event through continental quota.

But Shah will need much better training this time as he suffered first round exit in Asian Games in Indonesia and World Championships in Baku last month.Qaiser also faced first round exit in both these events.