Former Asian champion Saadi Abbas crashes out of Karate 1 Series A
Pakistan’s talented & motivated karatika and former Asian champion Saadi Abbas crashed out of Karate 1 Series A at Istanbul in the fourth round of the -75 kg male kumite competitions.
Pakistan’s talented & motivated karatika and former Asian champion Saadi Abbas crashed out of Karate 1 Series A at Istanbul in the fourth round of the -75 kg male kumite competitions.
The former two-time Commonwealth Championships gold medalist Saadi showed incredible performance through his spindled fitness and marvellous techniques but lost to a Russian fighter in the fourth round of the -75 kg male kumite competitions. The event had 190 entries. Saadi, also a US open gold medalist, was off to a fine start when he defeated Almaazmi Muntasir Abdullah of Egypt in the first round. He went on to whack fighters from Jamaica and Italy before losing in the fourth fight.
A feat which has never been achieved before by any athlete of karate in the South Asian region as former Asian champion, Saadi has won several championships and open championships in different countries and continents all over the world. He was on an International Olympic Committee (IOC) scholarship under which the fighter is yet to receive 3000 dollars for four months.
This was one of the qualifying round for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics. Saadi's collection of titles includes him being a former Asian champion, US Open gold medalist, two-time Commonwealth Championship gold medalist and another of his recent win of a gold medal in the Omar Bin Hayder Karate Cup 2019.
He got ninth position in Paris Open in January 2019. He then faced third round exit in the Dubai Open in February. Saadi ended 12th in the Series A in Austria in March and in April he faced first round exit in the Rabat Open. Currently, Saadi holds 27th Olympic ranking. But he is hopeful that he will improve it drastically as he is yet to play in the Asian Championship to be held in Vietnam in July.
