Qaisar wins bronze medal at Asia-Oceania Junior C’ship

KARACHI: Pakistan’s highly talented judoka Qaisar Khan Afridi won bronze medal in the -100 kilogramme weight category in the Asia-Oceania Junior Championship in Beirut on Sunday night.

After losing his first fight against seasoned Korean fighter Yeo Yejun, who eventually won silver, Qaisar was given a repechage in which he defeated Mongolia’s Khuder Chuluun to a set a bronze medal clash with Munsur Rahman of Tajikistan. And Qaisar did a fine job to beat him to finish with a bronze.

Earlier Sajjad Khan Haqqani lost his first fight of the -90kg against Anarbek Ishenbaev of Kyrgyzstan to face an exit. It was a debut event for Sajjad, who had been picked following some solid performances at the national level.

“It was a fine effort from Qaisar to get a bronze in an event in which fighters from both Asia and Oceania featured. It means it was not an event of Asia only and credit goes to Qaisar who did a fine job,” Pakistan Judo Federation (PJF) president Col Junaid told ‘The News’ on Monday.

Qaisar is expected to also win a medal in the next year’s Commonwealth Games to be held in Birmingham. “Yes, InshaAllah along with Shah Hussain we will have medal hope in Qaisar also and we will try to work on them,” Junaid said. “Next year is packed with events. Besides the Commonwealth Games we also have Asian Games and Islamic Games. I believe that Pakistani fighters can win medals in the Commonwealth Games and Islamic Games, particularly Qaisar and Shah.

“We had planned earlier to send Qaisar to Hungary for the World Championship but his visa was refused and it was a big blow. Three times so far his Hungary visa has been refused. But we will try our level best to focus on this lad who has the ability to grow,” he said.

“He will be one of our top seeds who will be given chances to feature in the 2024 Paris Olympics Qualifiers. He can do wonders,” Junaid said. “The big thing which we need is to hire a foreign coach and if we are able to do it then it will be a smooth going to achieve our goals,” he said.