Pak judo teams exhibit good performance in South Asian championship

LAHORE, Apr 23 (APP):Pakistan Judo squad displayed a commendable performance in overall individual Men and Women Judo events of 8th South Asian Judo Championship, which is in progress in Nepal currently.
After interesting and tough combat, the talented Judokas made Pakistan on Second on the victory stand by securing 2 Gold, 3 Silver and 3 Bronze medals in individual events, said the information made available here on Monday by the Pakistan Judo Federation. Pakistan remained second in Men and second in women event, hence remained overall on the second place.
Federal Minister for Sports Riaz Hussain Pirzada praised Pakistan Judo team’s performance in the championship and congratulated the Judokas and the officials of Pakistan Judo Federation for putting in efforts for bringing laurels for the country.
On day one of the South Asian Senior Judo Championship, Pakistan Judo Team secured 2 Gold and 2 Silver medals in men and women categories, respectively. Olympian Shah Hussain Shah and a young and emerging player Qaiser Khan got gold medals whereas Maryam and Humaira Ashiq got silver medals.
Silver medallist Commonwealth Games, Twice Asian Bronze medalist and Olympian Shah Hussain Shah defended his title of South Asian Championship in weight category of +100kg and defeated rival India in preliminary round, then beat Nepal in semi-final and finally won the Gold by defeating Sri Lankan Judoka in the final. This was an easy win and was one sided game. Prior to the competition, Shah was sent by Pakistan Judo Federation to attend 6 weeks international Judo Federation Training Camp in Hungary.
Qaiser Khan Afridi, a talented 17 years youngster and a shining player from FATA clinched South Asian Gold in -90kg. He proved his talent and lived up to the expectations of the PJF by wining supreme medal. He defeated India in preliminary round, beat Sri Lanka in semi-final and Nepal in the final. He recently joined after training as well competition tour in Uzbekistan.
In the women event, Maryam got silver medal in -52kg by defeating Bangladesh in first round, Nepal in the semi-final, while she lost against India in the final. Humaira Ashiq beat Sri Lanka in first round, Bangladesh in second round and beat Nepal in semi-final. In finals she lost against India and was able to lift Silver Medal in her weight category.
Other results of day 2 were: Baber Hussain got Silver -66kg, Nadeem Akram got Bronze in -73kg, Muhammad Abbas clinched Bronze in -81kg, Beenish Khan took Bronze in -78kg.
On conclusion of all individual events, Pakistan remained second with 2 Gold, 3 Silver and 3 Bronze medals. While on Monday, in the team events Pakistan got Silver in men and Bronze in women.
In the men’s team first round Pakistan defeated Bangladesh, and then in semi-final defeated Nepal but was beaten in the final by India and got Silver by the ratio of 3:2; Nadeem Akram and Shah Hussain Shah showed their worth in team event while Qaisar failed to rise to the occasion and lost his fight.
In women team event, Pakistan lost semi-final bout to India and managed to beat Bangladesh to earn bronze medal.
Meanwhile, the the President and Secretary of Pakistan Judo Federation, Col Junaid Alam and Mansoor Ahmed have extended their heartiest congratulations to the team and also thanked Pakistan Sports Board for their support to Pakistan Judo.
“If Pakistan Judo team will get the opportunity to participate in the future international events, it will show productive results to attain glory for the country,” they said.