Japan-based Shah Hussain & Amina Toyoda set to represent Pakistan in Asia-Pacific Championships Seniors 2019
Japan-based judokas, Shah Hussain and Amina Toyoda are all set to represent Pakistan in the 2019 Asia-Pacific Championships Seniors which is scheduled to be held from 19 to 22 April at Fujairah, Dubai.
Japan-based judokas Shah Hussain and Amina Toyoda are to represent Pakistan in the 2019 Asia-Pacific Championships Seniors for which the duo will come to Pakistan on 17 April and then fly to Dubai on the same day.
A senior official of Pakistan Judo Federation (PJF) said that Qaiser Afridi was not going to the UAE event because of injury. "He is a gutsy fighter but he was not fit," he said. He added that the competitions will help the federation examine the performance of the duo.
"We will see how they perform. Both are in good shape and are doing tough training in Tokyo. The performance of Shah Hussain will be of great value and it will also determine whether he would be given more chances this year and half of next year to make an attempt to qualify for the 2020 Olympics." he said.
Japan-based Olympian Shah Hussain's Olympic ranking has dropped to 151. He will need to improve it if he is to qualify for the Olympics which will be held in his hometown in Tokyo in 2020. If he wins a medal in the Fujairah event, it would improve his rankings hugely. But he still would have to keep improving his ranking till May 2020. Which means he will have to feature in maximum qualifying rounds.
Shah is the only judoka of Pakistan who has played in the Olympics. He had done so in 2016 Rio Olympics where he exited in the first round in the -100 KG slots. However, he has qualified for Olympics on continental quota and for his participation in the event, former PJF Secretary and the current Vice P resident, Masood Ahmed will accompany the squad as manager and coach.
Both the fighters belong to Army. After having impressed in the Asian Junior Championships in the past, Amina was dogged by injuries that kept her away from international circuit.
"She is now fully fit and we expect that she will do her best in the Dubai. If our fighters got good draws then anything can happen. You know we have already beaten Oceania states but central Asian states are tough to beat," PJF official said.
The 2019 Asian-Pacific Judo Championships Seniors and Teams this time will be held in Fujairah, United Arab Emirates which will feature fighters from 25 different countries among which 114 will be men and the remaining 67 will be women.
