Judo: Hoping to follow in his father’s footsteps says Shah Hussain

18-year-old Shah aims at winning judo medal for Pakistan.

KARACHI:

Eighteen-year-old Shah Hussain has just one dream: follow in his father’s footsteps to win an Olympic medal for Pakistan.

However, unlike his father Hussain Shah, the teenager will represent Pakistan in the World Junior Judo Championship, instead of boxing, that starts in Cape Town on November 3. The event also serves as the Olympic qualifying round, where Hussain must finish in the top seven to confirm his place at the London event next year.

Training in Japan since he was six, Hussain has become a competitive athlete in Tokyo.

“I have been training hard so that I can follow my father’s footsteps,” Hussain told The Express Tribune. “He’s the only boxer to win a boxing Olympic medal for Pakistan and now I have a chance to be the only judo athlete to win a medal for my country.”

Hussain has been invited to the event by the International Judo Federation and the Pakistan Judo Federation (PJF) has authorised him to represent the country.

Meanwhile the PJF is pinning its hopes on Hussain to make it through to London, agreeing that he has experience and skills to qualify for the Olympics next year.

Published in The Express Tribune, October 25^th, 2011.