PJF’s Shujaat to contest for Asian judo post

KARACHI: The president of Pakistan Judo Federation (PJF) Col (retd) Shujaat Ali Rana will contest the election for the president post of the South Zone in the Congress meeting of the Judo Union of Asia (JUA), which will be held in Farwaniyah (Kuwait) on Monday (tomorrow).
Sources in the PJF said that Shujaat had enough chance to become the chief of the South Zone, carrying six countries including India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Nepal, Bangladesh and Afghanistan.
Sources said that Shujaat was expected to get the support of India, Bangladesh and Afghanistan. If elected, Shujaat will also then serve as the vice-president of the JUA which is going to elect its office-bearers for a term of four years.
Sources said that both Shujaat and PJF secretary Masood Ahmed on Saturday left for Kuwait to attend JUA congress meeting. Before the meeting, they will hold talks with the representatives of the South Zone.
Meanwhile, a seven-member Pakistan team will fly out of Lahore for Kuwait on Monday (tomorrow) to feature in the Asian Judo Championship to be held there from May 13 to 15.
The team includes Japan-based Shah Hussain Shah, Syed Samiullah, Babar Hussain, Imtiaz Hussain, Karamat Butt, Humaira Ashiq and Shumaila Gul.
Iranian Sajjad Kazmi will accompany the side as coach.
However, he may proceed to Kuwait a day late because he has not been issued a Pakistani visa.
“Yes, my Pakistani visa has expired. The team will leave for Kuwait on Monday. If I get my visa on Monday then I will leave for Kuwait on Tuesday,” Sajjad told ‘The News’ on Saturday.
“The slow visa process is disturbing me. It should be fast,” Sajjad said. “After the Asian Judo Championship I will come back to Lahore to field the team in the international festival being organised by the Punjab government,” the coach said.
Shah Hussain will proceed to Kuwait from Japan on Sunday (today).
Sajjad hopes Shah would live up to the expectations.
“Shah is a strong player. His grip and height is fairly good. His down technique is a bit weak. But still, I hope he will perform,” he said.
Shah achieved the bronze medal in the 2013 Asian Championship in Thailand. But Sajjad said the Kuwait event would be tough, saying, all the players would have prepared better for competitions which also serve as qualifying round for the 2016 Rio Olympics.
“Japan, Korea, Kazakhstan, Mongolia, Iran and even India are too strong. Let’s see how our players will tackle their challenge and particularly Shah,” Sajjad added.
Shah, son of Pakistan’s former Olympic bronze medallist boxer Hussain Shah, is currently ranked 54th in the world in the -100 kg weight category. And he may qualify for the Olympics if he takes his ranking into the thirties till the end of May 2016.
Sajjad was happy that Pakistan was fielding a full-fledged squad in the Asian event.
“This is the first time that Pakistan is fielding seven players in the Asian Championship and it’s encouraging,” he said.