Hussain Shah laments being ignored in cash prize awards

KARACHI: Pakistan’s former legendry boxer and 1988 Seoul Olympics bronze medallist Hussain Shah on Wednesday once again raised his voice against the “step-motherly treatment” meted out to him by successive governments.

“I won Olympic bronze, five South Asian Games golds and Asian Championship gold but I have not been given anything by the state authorities,” Hussain told 'The News' from Japan. “It really pains me that my performances have not been acknowledged the way they should have been. These days athletes are given big rewards for winning medals in the CWG and claiming fifth positions in the Olympics. And in contrast I won an Olympic medal but no one honoured me,” he added.

“I had been handed over documents of a 120 yards plot in Gulistan-e-Jauhar in 1989 but so far I have not been given possession of that land which has disappointed me a lot,” Hussain said.

The Birmingham CWG medallists are going to be given cash prizes at the Prime Minister’s secretariat in Islamabad on Thursday (today).

Hussain has been a huge name in Pakistan’s boxing history. He won gold in the 1987 Asian Championship in Kuwait, silver in the 1989 Beijing Asian Championship and bronze in the 1983 Okinawa Asian Championship. He is also the silver medallist of the 1986 Seoul Asian Games.

His son Shah Hussain is a two-time Olympian judoka and recently snared bronze in the Birmingham Commonwealth Games. Shah had also claimed silver in the 2014 Glasgow CWG.