Shah says he can qualify for Tokyo 2020 if supported

KARACHI: Japan-based Pakistani Olympian judoka Shah Hussain has said that he is in perfect practice and if he gets constant support it is not difficult for him to make it to the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.

“I am in perfect practice and my level is going up with the passage of time. But what I need is support. It is not difficult to qualify for the 2020 Olympics. I still have a solid chance,” Shah told ‘The News’ in an interview from Tokyo on Thursday.

However, he was quick to add if he did not get financial support from any cordon, it would be difficult for him to achieve his goal. “You know I will have to field in at least ten events and for that I will need money,” said Shah, son of former Pakistani Olympic medallist boxer Hussain Shah.

“Pakistan Judo Federation's (PJF) president Col Junaid and vice-president Masood Ahmed are trying hard to manage financial support. We have also requested Army. Let’s see what happens,” said Shah, who recently narrowly missed bronze medal when he lost to a fighter from Uzbekistan in the bronze medal fight of the Asia-Pacific Judo Championship at Fujairah, UAE.

Shah finished fifth in the -100 kilogramme competitions, which had 21 fighters. However, his three victories helped Shah grab 250 points which helped him improve his ranking.

Shah defeated world junior champion Sekine Kiyotaka of Japan in the preliminaries. He went on to beat a fighter from Tajikistan to make it to the quarter-finals. But there he lost to a player from Fiji. He then went into repechage and in the quarter-finals he defeated a fighter from Kazakhstan but lost to an Uzbek in the bronze medal fight.

“In the third fight I got relaxed and it was my biggest mistake. My rival was not that tough in that round. I had already beaten two tough rivals in my first two rounds,” Shah said.

He was not happy with what he achieved in Fujairah. “I did not achieve much in Fujairah and I am not satisfied with my performance there. I have improved a lot and I should have pulled off a much better performance,” Shah said.

He said if he got 2000 points he would qualify for Olympics. “I will need at least 2000 points for making it to Olympics. If I get 300 points per event then there is a great chance. Irrespective of medal, every fight which you win gives you points and it’s the beauty of the qualifiers. So it depends on how many events I play in the next few months,” Shah said.

He said he had been training for seven to eight hours daily with his Japanese coach. “I have hired a Japanese coach. He is young but is good enough. I have settled at the university, away from home, to focus on training,” revealed Shah, who recently came to Pakistan to feature in the National Championship in Islamabad. He will come again to represent Army in the 33rd National Games to be held at Peshawar from October 26 to November 1. “Yes, definitely, I will come for National Games,” Shah said.

To a query, Shah responded that Pakistan had a good, young lot and had the ability to win gold medals in the 13th South Asian Games slated to be held in Nepal from December 1-10. “We have enough chance of gold medals in SAG in a few weights. Our youngsters are good. Qaiser is a solid fighter and so is Japan-based Amina Toyoda, who is perfectly poised to clinch gold in the SAG. In -100kg our gold is confirmed and so is the case in 90kg where Qaiser can pick gold,” Shah said.

Amina also featured in the Asia-Pacific Judo Championships in Fujairah. She lost to a Jordanian fighter in the first round. Shah said that Amina lost due to her inexperience. “She is a highly talented fighter and is working hard in Tokyo. She lost in the first round because of her inexperience. She will learn with the passage of time,” said Shah who became the first Pakistani judoka to feature in Olympics when he made it to the 2016 Rio Games.

However in Rio, Shah fell at the first hurdle when he was beaten by Artem Bloshenko of Ukraine.