Combat sport success

Mixed martial artist Shahzaib Rind became the first Pakistani champion earlier this week after winning a fight at the Karate Combat Championship in Singapore. The 26-year-old from Balochistan has been going from success to success in recent months, culminating in winning the World Lightweight Championship by knocking out Brazil's Bruno Roberto De Assis. In a sport that demands unparalleled physical and mental fortitude, Rind's victory stands as a testament to his exceptional skill, strategic prowess and unrelenting spirit.

And by breaking new ground and showcasing the immense talent within the country, Rind has become a beacon of hope and inspiration for aspiring athletes across Pakistan. While Pakistanis have had notable successes in combat sports - primarily boxing - the vast majority has been at amateur level. Apart from increasing interest in mixed martial arts, Rind's success in a professional setting will also give top talent confidence that focusing on the sport is enough to pay the bills. Rind's success will hopefully help him move to even more notable MMA promotions - he is already training in the US, where lucrative promotions, including Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) and Bellator MMA, among others, are based. It is also notable that after Arshad Nadeem's gold medal-winning javelin throw at the Olympics, Rind's success also provides sports fans with more distractions from the cricket team, whose disastrous performance is expected to continue next month when we host a far superior England team for a three-test series.

At the very least, the government can assist in distracting us - and fulfilling one of Rind's longstanding requests - by supporting the development of more facilities for combat sports among a wider sports policy adjustment that moves away from cricket facilities, which can easily be left to the Pakistan Cricket Board alone.