Shah Hussain Shah to compete in Brazil

Pakistani judoka hoping to enter 2020 Tokyo Olympics through continental quota

KARACHI: Shah Hussain Shah will be competing in Brasil at the 2019 Brasilia Judo Grand Slam that starts on October 6 as he continue to walk the path to 2020 Tokyo Olympics, while the Pakistan Judo Federation (PJF) is confident that at least Shah will be going to Tokyo, even if other sports fail to make their place in the Games.

The PJF vice-president Masood Ahmed believes that if the 2014 Asian Games bronze medallist in -100kg gets through to the first round, he can have a chance at the continental quota from Asia that will have 10 athletes going to Olympics.

"We are confident and Shah needs to keep participating in the grand slams. He will take Pakistan to the Olympics, it is easy, and doable," Ahmed told The Express Tribune. "Shah has left for Brazil and he needs to get the points. Even getting to the second round will mean he will gain enough to improve his ranking in Asia. He needs to be among the top 54 in the Olympic ranking individuals list for his category."

Shah is 74th in the world with International Judo Federation (IJF) and 62nd on Olympic ranking list currently.

Shah Hussain Shah is the son of Pakistan's only Olympic medal winning boxer Hussain Shah (Seoul 1988), while he was born in London, his parents chose for him to have Pakistani nationality, and the 26-year-old has repeatedly shown passion to emulate his father's achievement for the country.

However, the PJF have faced tough time as they did not have enough funds to send the athletes to international events for more than a year now.

The federation sent three more athletes in the World Championships earlier this year, but Shah remained the best hope for the country.

"We are focusing on Shah because he is the most effective judoka we have, he has been chasing this dream for years now, and he can easily achieve it again," said Ahmed.

He added that Shah's father had made the appeal to the Government of Pakistan to support him for his journey to Olympics, but the Pakistan Sports Board is not issuing any grants to any of the sports, however, PJF are hopeful that there will be progress in Shah's case and the government will help.

"We can ensure that we can go to Olympics with Shah and there are more events coming up. Even going to Brazil has been a bit tricky, but he is going, and we have till May 2020 to touch the finishing line. If Shah gets to the 54th place in the Olympic rankings in Brazil and then maintains it till May, the Olympic Continental Quota place is easy, but surely, we are hoping he can improve himself and better his rankings, and be climb up to 40th place by May 2020," said Ahmed.