Islamabad
Pakistan’s Shah Hussain Shah missed bronze medal at Abu Dhabi Grand Slam 2019 as he lost his bout to World No. 4 Shady Elnahas of Canada on late Saturday.
The Canadian beat World No. 73 Japan-based judoka by ippon from a ko-uchi-gake and claimed third place, according to information received here.
Shah finished 5th in the event as there were two bronze medal bouts in his weight category (-100kg). “This is the highest ever achievement by any Pakistani Judoka at such a topflight world competition. The spectacular performance will better his Olympics as well as world rankings,” Pakistan Judo Federation (PJF) president Col. Junaid Alam said while commenting on Shah’s performance.
He said that the Federation would field Shah in a series of more events to enable him amass maximum points to earn a spot in 2020 Tokyo Olympics.
According to the PJF president, Shah’s performance had been outstanding at the Abu Dhabi Grand Slam and as a result of that Pakistan finished at the 30th position in the event where around judokas from 100 countries took part. “We sent only Shan and Amina Toyoda. No coach or official accompanied them. Whereas Indian contingent consisted of 14 judokas, but it (India) finished at the 40th position.”
Earlier, Shah benefitted by getting bye in the first round, while in the second round he won with wazari against World No. 55 Savytskiy Anton of Ukraine. In the third round, which was pre-quarter final, Shah played aggressively against World No. 28 Khurramov Mukhammad Karim of Uzbekistan and made him disqualified being extra defensive.
In the quarterfinal Shah fought against World No.18 Kotsoiev Zelym of Azerbaijan, but lost the fight on points after striving for complete duration of four minutes. In the next bout, Shah outclassed Chinese Judoka Erihemubatu in repechage in four minutes to reach in bronze medal fight.
The PJF said that despite all-out effort it only managed to send Shah in one major competition in the first year of Olympic qualification, whereas judokas from other countries participated in at least six to seven events.
Minister for Inter Provincial Coordination (IPC) Dr Fehmida Mirza had given verbal consent to support Shah financially for participation in international event, but not a single penny had been released so far by Pakistan Sports Board.
“In the last five months, the Federation fielded him in five major championships including the World and Asian Championships as well as Grand Slams.—APP
