Judo team’s departure delayed

Sports board fails to grant funds, federation to arrange trip on its own expense.

KARACHI: A five-member judo team delayed its departure to Tashkent, Uzbekistan ahead of the Asian Senior Championship after the Pakistan Sports Board (PSB) failed to grant funds on time.

According to the Pakistan Judo Federation (PJF) Secretary Masood Ahmed, the team, which was supposed to fly out yesterday, will now leave for Uzbekistan on April 25 — a day before the event starts.

Ahmed said the failure of the PSB, which was supposed to release a grant of Rs1.2 million for the team’s participation in three events, has forced the federation to arrange the trip on its own.

Meanwhile, newly-appointed coach Sajjad Kazmi declined to travel with the team to Uzbekistan, saying that he did not want to take the responsibility of players who were not trained by him.

Karamat Butt, Shah Hussain and Shahzaib make up the men’s team, while Humaira Ashiq and Fauzia will represent Pakistan in the women’s event at the championship.

“His decision is fair enough,” Ahmed told The Express Tribune. “I know our players don’t have a good chance of even making it to the quarters but we need to send them to gain experience ahead of the South Asian Games.”

Published in The Express Tribune, April 23^rd, 2012.