SAG gold-medal aspirant Pak judokas to undergo training in Japan: PJF

ISLAMABAD, Aug 06 (APP):Pakistan Judo Federation (PJF) has arranged a 15-day elite-level training programme in Japan for its two talented judokas, Mohammad Hasnain and Humaira.
“Both these judokas will undergo rigorous training, next month at Saitama Prefecture campus of Japan’s Niiza University,” Masood Ahmed, vice president of PJF told APP on Tuesday.

“A large number of judokas from all over the world get training in Japan. As our these judokas (Hasnain and Humaira) have the potential to win gold medals in the South Asian Games (SAG), we’ve arranged training for them in Japan,” he said. The 13th edition of the SA Games will be held in Nepal from December 1 to 10.

Hasnain (-66kg) is the reigning national champion. He also struck silver medal in the recently-held military judo championships in Uzbekistan. While Humaira (-49kg), also a current national champion is South Asian gold medalist. “She is an outstanding judoka, who claimed the national champion title for the record consecutive nine times in her weight category,” Masood said.

“Usually, a judoka from a foreign country is allowed only two to three days’ training session in Japan but All Japan Judo Federation has allowed over two weeks training stint for our judokas,” he added.
Both these judokas are also part of Pakistan’s four-member team that is set to battle at the World Judo Championships 2019, taking place in Nippon Budokan Tokyo, Japan from August 23 to 28. The other two members are Pakistan’s Japan-based judokas – Shah Hussain Shah (-100kg) and Amina Toyda (-57kg).

According to Masood, Shah was getting training with Japan’s national judo team, while Amina was being trained at Tokyo University. He said that the world championships would also serve as a qualifier for Tokyo Olympics. “The world championships are considered as the biggest events in judo and winning a gold medal at them means a direct qualification to the Olympic Games.

“We’ve high expectations from Shah and Amina that they will win gold at the championships. But if they finish with silver or bronze, even then their ranking will improve and there will be a chance for them to perform well again at some other future international events to make it to the Olympics,” he added.