Pakistan Wrestling Federation laud Hassan Ali's Asian Youth Games medal

The 16-year-old won the bronze medal after defeating an athlete from Tajikistan in beach wrestling

KARACHI:

Pakistan's Hassan Ali grabbed the 70kg beach wrestling bronze medal at the Asian Youth Games at Sama Bay, Bahrain, on Thursday.

Hassan's bronze medal fight was with Tajikistan wrestler Idris Bakhromov.

The Pakistani youngster was dominant in the match and won it 2-0.

This is the third medal for Pakistan at the Asian Youth Games 2025. 

"We are extremely blessed as a country to have so much talent in wrestling, we are very happy with Hassan's medal. We were expecting him to win the gold medal. But overall, he fought hard and only lost after a very close fight in all of his matches," the Pakistan Wrestling Federation President Muhammad Arshad Sattar told The Express Tribune.

"We wanted to field three wrestlers, but unfortunately, Usman, the third athlete who was meant to compete in the +80 kg event, got injured and had a fracture in his hand, so we had to let go of the slot for him.

"We were hopeful that he could get a gold medal as well. But just a week before the Asian Youth Games, he picked up that injury."

Earlier, the kabaddi team took the bronze medal. Then the volleyball team played the final and grabbed a silver medal after a defeat against Iran on Wednesday night.

Hassan was a medal hope, but he lost his semifinal against Iran's Sina Shokouhi 2-1 after a close fight.

The other Pakistani wrestler, Abdul Rehman, also fought hard to make his mark, but he faced defeat in his bronze medal match, 2-0 against Jordan's Zaid Naghouj.

The Pakistan Olympic Association congratulated the athletes for their medal finishes in their disciplines.

"Pakistan Olympic Association (POA) extends heartfelt congratulations to the athletes, their support personnel, and the respective National Sports Federations on these remarkable achievements. We wish them continued success in their sporting journeys," read the statement released for the media by the Association.

Hassan represented Pakistan in the junior belt-wrestling event in Russia, where he won the gold medal. Meanwhile, Abdul Rehman also won the Commonwealth junior wrestling bronze medal previously.

Abdul Rehman belongs to Gujranwala, while Hassan comes from Muzaffargarh.

The Inam-effect

Pakistan wrestling is now looked after by the former three-time beach wrestling world champion Muhammad Inam Butt. 

The former athlete is working with the athletes as the secretary of the Pakistan Wrestling Federation.

"The wrestlers trained with Inam in Gujranwala at his wrestling gym," explained Sattar. Inam has been directly involved in helping these talented wrestlers hone their skills.

"There was a two-month camp for this event, and the youngsters were trained twice a day, once for mat and then in the evening, for beach wrestling."

Pakistani wrestlers thrive in beach wrestling mainly due to its similarity to the traditional South Asian wrestling.

The most fascinating factor is that most Pakistani wrestlers prepare for the beach wrestling events in Punjab, where they do not have a beach, but they create the conditions to help them train.

Sattar further emphasised that Pakistan can have an Olympic medal in the next 10 years in wrestling as well because of the talent pool available in Pakistan.

He added that there are professionals like Ghulam Fareed, who is a United Wrestling-qualified coach, and has been appointed as the lecturer by the world governing body to train other coaches as well.
"We are grateful that Allah has blessed us with talent in coaching as well. Fareed trains the coaches from all over the world. He is also training our youth.
"What we need now is the investment in wrestling; we need to prepare our athletes with scientific knowledge and approach."

Sattar added that the Pakistan Wrestling Federation held open trials for the Asian Youth Games and then picked the best talent.