LAHORE – Pakistan Judo squad displayed a commendable performance inoverall individual Men and Women Judo events of 8th South Asian JudoChampionship, which is in progress in Nepal currently.
After interesting and tough combat, the talented Judokas made Pakistan onSecond on the victory stand by securing 2 Gold, 3 Silver and 3 Bronzemedals in individual events, said the information made available here onMonday by the Pakistan Judo Federation. Pakistan remained second in Men andsecond in women event, hence remained overall on the second place.
Federal Minister for Sports Riaz Hussain Pirzada praised Pakistan Judoteam’s performance in the championship and congratulated the Judokas andthe officials of Pakistan Judo Federation for putting in efforts forbringing laurels for the country.
On day one of the South Asian Senior Judo Championship, Pakistan Judo Teamsecured 2 Gold and 2 Silver medals in men and women categories,respectively. Olympian Shah Hussain Shah and a young and emerging playerQaiser Khan got gold medals whereas Maryam and Humaira Ashiq got silvermedals.
Silver medallist Commonwealth Games, Twice Asian Bronze medalist andOlympian Shah Hussain Shah defended his title of South Asian Championshipin weight category of +100kg and defeated rival India in preliminary round,then beat Nepal in semi-final and finally won the Gold by defeating SriLankan Judoka in the final. This was an easy win and was one sided game.Prior to the competition, Shah was sent by Pakistan Judo Federation toattend 6 weeks international Judo Federation Training Camp in Hungary.
Qaiser Khan Afridi, a talented 17 years youngster and a shining player fromFATA clinched South Asian Gold in -90kg. He proved his talent and lived upto the expectations of the PJF by wining supreme medal. He defeated Indiain preliminary round, beat Sri Lanka in semi-final and Nepal in the final.He recently joined after training as well competition tour in Uzbekistan.
In the women event, Maryam got silver medal in -52kg by defeatingBangladesh in first round, Nepal in the semi-final, while she lost againstIndia in the final. Humaira Ashiq beat Sri Lanka in first round, Bangladeshin second round and beat Nepal in semi-final. In finals she lost againstIndia and was able to lift Silver Medal in her weight category.
Other results of day 2 were: Baber Hussain got Silver -66kg, Nadeem Akramgot Bronze in -73kg, Muhammad Abbas clinched Bronze in -81kg, Beenish Khantook Bronze in -78kg.
On conclusion of all individual events, Pakistan remained second with 2Gold, 3 Silver and 3 Bronze medals. While on Monday, in the team eventsPakistan got Silver in men and Bronze in women.
In the men’s team first round Pakistan defeated Bangladesh, and then insemi-final defeated Nepal but was beaten in the final by India and gotSilver by the ratio of 3:2; Nadeem Akram and Shah Hussain Shah showed theirworth in team event while Qaisar failed to rise to the occasion and losthis fight.
In women team event, Pakistan lost semi-final bout to India and managed tobeat Bangladesh to earn bronze medal.
Meanwhile, the the President and Secretary of Pakistan Judo Federation, ColJunaid Alam and Mansoor Ahmed have extended their heartiest congratulationsto the team and also thanked Pakistan Sports Board for their support toPakistan Judo.
“If Pakistan Judo team will get the opportunity to participate in thefuture international events, it will show productive results to attainglory for the country,” they said. – APP