Apart from hockey, Pakistan also has chances to make it to the 2016 Rio Olympics -- through judo and boxing, two individual sports disciplines.

Like always, two players each in swimming and athletics would also be able to earn Rio tickets through wild cards.

Pakistan has a lot of potential in judo but because of lack of proper support from the government the national judokas have been unable to impress outside South Asia.

Luckily Japan-based Shah Hussain has emerged as a strong player and is likely to carve a niche in Rio Games.

If he qualified, it would be the first time in the history of Pakistan to have a judo player in the world’s most prestigious spectacle.

Shah, the son of former Olympic bronze medallist boxer Hussain Shah, is ranked 58th in the world in the -100 kilogramme category. According to qualification rules for Olympics, 22 top-ranked judokas of the world on May 30, 2016, will qualify for the Olympics. Shah will also get a chance through Asian window as the top 12 judokas from Asia will also directly qualify on the basis of May 30, 2016, rankings.

The Rio qualification time-frame is from May 2014 to May 2016. There are a few qualification tournaments which Shah has at his disposal till May next year. But he will have to tactfully choose those events which could fetch him more points.

Pakistan Judo Federation (PJF) must focus on the boy and provide him with all assistance with the collaboration of Pakistan Sports Board (PSB) so that he could make it to Rio.

Shah missed the Grand Prix in Turkey due to certain reasons. From May 13-15 he will have to appear in the Asian Championships in Kuwait. Participating in it could improve his world standing. And if he is able to reach the victory podium in Kuwait then certainly he will claim enough points to push his ranking to 30s.

His Newaza is weak and it was because of this fault in his techniques that he lost in several international competitions during the last couple of years.

During his visit to Karachi a couple of months back Shah Hussain said that he was working hard to improve in this area.

He was optimistic about his qualifying chances for Olympics.

"I have almost qualified," Shah told ‘The News’.

With the Asian Championships, the real journey towards Olympics will start for judokas as the continental event is followed by several other qualifiers around the world which will be held till May next year.

In individual sports in Pakistan, sponsorship is a real problem. It is the responsibility of the PSB to provide ample support to those athletes of individual sports who could progress in their sports disciplines. Being a bright future prospect Shah deserves all attention from the government.

Shah was recently awarded Rs2 million by Pakistan government for winning silver medal in the 2014 Glasgow Commonwealth Games, a step which must have boosted the morale of the judoka.

Pakistan Judo Federation (PJF) is also grooming 19-year-old Japan-based judoka Wajahat Sarwar, who will also appear in the Asian Championships along with three Pakistan-grown judokas.

Wajahat is a talented player and the way he played on his debut in the World Junior Championships in Miami last year shows that he will be able to qualify for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.

In boxing, Pakistan has a chance to earn a seat in Rio extravaganza through star boxer Mohammad Waseem who plays in the flyweight category.

As per allocation of quota, the finalists of the flyweight category in the World Championships will qualify for the Olympics.

The World Championships will be held in Doha in October. Waseem, and may be a few others, will also get chances to flex muscles for winning Olympic berths through continental qualifying phase in which three seats in each weight categories are reserved for Asia/Oceania. Five more are reserved in the world qualifying round.

But the question is whether Waseem would be able to qualify. No doubt, Waseem is one of the best boxers Pakistan has ever produced. He not only won silver medal in the 2014 Glasgow Commonwealth Games but also brought Pakistan back to the victory podium of the Asian Games after 12 years when he finished with a bronze medal in the 2014 Incheon Asian Games.

But the problem is that neither Pakistan Boxing Federation (PBF) looks serious to prepare him for qualifying round nor the PSB.

The PBF’s top officials only talk and don’t take any concrete step. The PBF claimed a few months ago that they would send a few boxers to Cuba for six months training but it does not seem likely and the time is fast slipping away.

PBF is not even willing to manage England visa for Waseem, who says that he himself would bear the rest of the expenditure. "I have no time. I want to go to England for training for the World Championships. If PBF manages visa for me I will bear the rest of my expenditure. Believe me, I can qualify for Rio Olympics if I get quality training and in England I will do that,’ Waseem told ‘The News on Sunday’.

Waseem’s world ranking has dropped. He is now 14th as he did not feature in any international event during the last six months.

The PBF is instead concentrating on sending a five-member team to Astana (Kazakhstan) later this month to feature in an international event. It would have been better had the same amount been spent on training of boxers for Olympic qualifying rounds.

There is no vision as the PBF is being run on ad-hoc basis with no proper goals.

The credit of Waseem’s medals in the Commonwealth Games and the Asian Games does not go to the PBF but to the boxer himself who worked tirelessly on his own without equipment and made Pakistan proud.

Pakistani boxers last featured in the 2004 Athens Olympics. Missing out 2008 and 2012 editions in Beijing and London, respectively, means that the PBF has failed to groom the talent.

Still the PBF has six months at its disposal and it should manage at least four months training tour for the top boxers who would represent Pakistan in the World Championships and Asian qualifying round for Olympics.