LAHORE: (APP) Pakistan Ju-jitsu team returned here on Monday from Sri Lanka after putting up a brilliant show by winning altogether 15 medals in the Asian Beach Ju-Jitsu Championship held at Negombo beach.
Pakistan martial art team comprising five male and four female players won one gold, five silver and nine bronze medals, said a spokesman of Pakistan Ju-jitsu Federation.
More than 20 countries participated in this event in which Australia was also permitted by the Ju-Jitsu Asian Union to participate as they were going to join 5th AIMAG championship to be held next year in Turkmenistan.
During the first two days of the event talented and endowed Pakistani players clinched 9 medals including 3 silver and 6 bronze medals.
On the first day, during men's event Awais Ashiq won the first bronze medal for the country in the Championship in his weight category -56 kg. During his first fight,Awais defeated Al-Mashahedi of Iraq by choking him and gaining 100 points. His second fight was with the host team and it also finished before the standard time and the Pakistani won 100 points again and reached the semis but was defeated by Nishibayashi of Japan.
Rafiq Siddique also took part in the same weight category and defeated India's Guruprasad in his first bout but couldn't win the next one from Japan.
The second bronze medal holder, Jahanzeb Rashad Lone defeated Korea's Seungjoo Lee in his first fight and UAE's Al Hameli in the second one but was overcome by Iraq's Al Bazy in the semis.
Pakistan's Farhan Anjum stood 4th in the medal standings but couldn't reach the winning podium due to some biased decisions of the referee, said the spokesman.
He said women players also showed commendable performance on the second day during the women's competition as Humaira Ashiq of Pakistan won the silver medal in -49kg but lost the final.
Beenish Khan of Pakistan managed to get two silver medals in +77kg and open weight category as she defeated players from Turkmenistan, Kazakhstan and UAE. Maryam and Ambreen Masih of the Pakistani team grabbed bronze medal each in the weight category -55kg by defeating players from Sri Lanka and Korea. The last competition on the second day was Duo System in which Pakistan managed to clinch 2 more bronze medals in Mix and Women category.
On the last day, the no gi category competition Jahanzeb Rashad Lone won gold medal for the country in -62kg, Humaira Ashiq has clinched another silver medal in -45kg weight category, Maryam has also managed to grab the silver medal in -55kg, Beenish Khan clinched another bronze medal in +77kg and Awais Ashiq and Rafiq Siddique got bronze medal each in -56kg.
The spokesman said due to financial crisis PJJF could not send its full team though all other teams brought two players in each weight category.
He praised the performance of the team and attributed it to the hard work of team members and coaches including Ameer Mukhtar,Shabeena Saeed and Waqar Ilyas Khan.
Pakistani Ju-Jitsu team will also participate in the 5th Asian Beach Games to be held in Da Nang,Vietnam next month,he added.