Shah upbeat ahead of Asian Judo event

KARACHI: Pakistan’s Olympic prospect Shah Hussain said on Sunday that he was confident he would perform well in the Asian Judo Championships, to be held in Al Qadisiyah Club Indoor Stadium in Hawalli, Kuwait, from May 13 to 15.
“No doubt, it will be a tough event as some great players of the world will be in action. But I am confident I will live up to the expectations,” Shah told ‘The News’ from Tokyo on Sunday.
Shah shot to fame when he won silver medal in the 2014 Glasgow Commonwealth Games. The government of Pakistan awarded the youngster a cash prize of Rs2 million for his spectacular performance.
Shah is the son of former Pakistan Olympic bronze medallist boxer Hussain Shah, who is now settled in Japan with his family.
Good performance in the Asian Championship would help him improve his world ranking in the -100 kilogramme weight category.
He needs to push his world ranking into the thirties by May 2016 in order to qualify for the 2016 Rio Olympics.
After the Kuwait event, Pakistan Judo Federation (PJF) plans to field Shah in the Grand Prix and the World Championships to be held in June and August in Hungary and Kazakhstan, respectively.
“I have been training hard for the last few weeks. Last week I started training with the world’s top judokas in Scuba University,” Shah said.
“I have improved my techniques. I have strengthened my defence and am focusing on building stamina. Because of the quality of fighters I think I will have to fight for full five minutes in each bout and for that I will need a lot of stamina,” added Shah.
Shah will move to Kuwait on May 11 and will fly back home on May 16.
Besides Shah, four male and two female judokas of Pakistan will feature in the Kuwait event.
Japan-based Wajahat Sarwar would not be part of the touring party, a PJF official confirmed. “Yes, Wajahat will not play in Kuwait. He also plays in the same weight in which Shah Hussain plays. Wajahat has been advised by his uncle not to change his weight category as he played tremendously in the same weight in the World Junior Championships in Miami,” PJF secretary Masood Ahmed told this correspondent.
Masood said Shah Hussain was capable of improving his ranking.
“If he clears a couple of rounds it will improve his ranking. Getting a medal would be a huge boost for his Olympic chances,” said Masood, also the secretary of the South Asian Judo Federation.
“There will be strong players from Korea, Japan, Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan, so Shah will have to be very tough,” he pointed out.
Before the start of the Kuwait event, the congress meeting of Judo Union of Asia (JUA) will be held on May 11. Pakistan will be represented in the meeting by the PJF president Col Rana Shujaat Ali and secretary Masood.
Pakistani judokas other than Shah are training in Islamabad under the supervision of Iranian coach Sajad Kazmi. They will depart for Kuwait on May 10.