Judo federation to hire foreign coach soon ahead of CW Games

KARACHI: Pakistan Sports Board (PSB) has written a letter to the Pakistan Judo Federation (PJF) advising the judo body to hire a foreign coach in order to prepare its lot for the 14th South Asian Games and a few major events before this.

“Yes, we have received a letter by the Board a week ago that we should seek for a foreign coach,” a PJF source told ‘The News’.

The source said that they were in contact with various nations, adding they were willing to hire the Russian coach Musa Mogushkov.

“Initially we wanted to hire him but he refused and promised that he will help us in hiring any other Russian coach for us. But after the International Judo Federation (IJF) suspended the Russian Judo Federation because of the Russia-Ukraine war, we may again turn towards Musa as in the prevailing situation he is likely to be available,” the source said.

The source further said that the federation wanted a foreign coach as early as possible and one Spanish coach was also an option.

It is to be mentioned that the camp for a handful of international events is yet to start.

“The Board had told us that our camp will begin from March 25 but so far we have got no official letter from the Board yet,” the source said.

The source said that the federation aims to approach its fighter Shah Hussain in deciding what weight category he would like to compete in the Commonwealth Games pencilled in for July 28 to August 8 in Birmingham.

Shah has decided to play at -91kg. His previous weight category was -100kg in which he also featured in two back-to-back Olympics in Rio and Tokyo in 2016 and 2018, respectively.

The entries of Shah and Qaiser Afridi have been confirmed for the Commonwealth Games.