PHOTO: INP
The 21-year-old is, however, Pakistan’s main hope to make a debut in the Olympics next year in a bid to emulate his father Hussain Shah, the only Pakistan boxer who won an Olympic medal.
The youngster has a total of 209 points, lagging behind Turkmenistan’s Saidzhalol Saidov on 51 out of 262 judokas in the -100kg category of the International Judo Federation rankings.
“Shah is our key judoka and hopefully he’ll make history by qualifying for the Rio Olympics,” Pakistan Judo Federation (PJF) secretary Masood Ahmed told The Express Tribune. “We have a couple of international tournaments scheduled this year, including a grand prix in August.”
The official was pleased with Shah’s achievements. “We’re thrilled that his international rankings have improved so quickly,” said Ahmed. “We hope he can improve further, as the top 33 athletes book their place in the Olympics directly.”
Ahmed added that Pakistan is thriving at the Asian Judo Union circuit too, and PJF President Rana Shujaat was elected as the South Asian Judo Federation chief at the Judo Union of Asia congress.
He expressed his disappointment at the cancellation of the international tournament that was scheduled to begin on May 16 in Lahore. India, Nepal, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka were slated to participate in the event, which was called off after the Naltar helicopter crash that killed members of diplomatic community.
Published in The Express Tribune, May 19th, 2015.
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