Pakistani fighters gear up for crucial Asian Karate Championship

Pakistan is set to field six fighters, also including Canada-based former Asian champion Saadi Abbas, in the Asian Karate Championship penciled in for September 19-22 at the Sports Centre Gymnasium in Linping District, Hangzhou, the Chinese city which last year hosted the 19th Asian Games.

This event is not only a huge opportunity for the top fighters of the continent to showcase their talent but it is also a qualifier for the Karate World Cup which will be held in November in Pamplona, Spain.

Saadi, who lifted gold in the 2011 Quanzhou Asian Championship in -67kg, had missed the Hangzhou Asian Games due to injury but he is now set to represent Pakistan at a major event once again.

“Yes, I am training hard,” Saadi told Nukta from Canada.

“Last week a viral flue unsettled me little bit and it weakened me but I am trying to recover well in time. I will resume training with full power today and will try to give my best during the event,” Saadi said.

Besides claiming gold at the continental level, Lyari-born Saadi also has to his credit two bronze in the Asian Championship which he secured in the 2012 Tashkent and 2013 Dubai Asian Championship. He is also two-time Commonwealth Karate Championship gold medalist.

Saadi will fight in the -84 kilogram category in Hangzhou.

Saadi Abbas poses with the medals he has won in the past. Facebook/SaadiAbbas

The others who will join Saadi include a former Asian junior bronze medalist Mohammad Awais (+84kg), Zafar Iqbal (-55kg), debutant Mohammad Hasnain (-60kg), Laiba Zia (-55kg) and Sabira (-50 kg).

These fighters will leave for Hangzhou on September 16 and will reach the venue on September 17.

England-based Sajid Hussain will join the lot in Hangzhou as manager. As there is no coach accompanying the side, Saadi, who also has solid coaching experience, will handle the lot besides also contesting his own fights.

Official weigh-in will be held on September 19.

The fighters are undergoing training in their respective departments which have established camps for the Inter-Departmental Karte Championship whose dates and venue are yet to be finalized. However, this correspondent understands that it will be held either at the end of this month or early next month.

Saadi, who serves in WAPDA, also plans to travel to Pakistan to participate in the event.

PKF yet to get NOC

Pakistan Karate Federation (PKF) chairman Mohammad Jehangir has said that they have yet to get No Objection Certificate (NOC) from the Pakistan Sports Board (PSB).

“We have applied for NOC on July 26 but so far we have not even got NOC from the state,” Jehangir told Nukta.

Pakistan have not got a medal at the Asian level during the last 11 years since Saadi snared bronze way back in the 2013 Asian Championship in Dubai and Jehangir said its basic reason is lack of foreign training.

“Unless you get ample foreign training ahead of such events medal is always elusive. It’s a body contact game and for that you need to train with the best lot. I would give you an example that how foreign training and long-term foreign coach help you develop your athletes. In 2002 Pakistan Sports Trust (PST) offered us to get funds and send fighters abroad and it also gave us Iranian coach Ahmed Safi who worked with us for five straight years from 2001 to 2006. And you know we got seven golds out of nine in the South Asian Games in 2004 and then in the 2006 South Asian Games we claimed six golds,” Jehangir said.

“And Saadi definitely was benefitted by this solid stint and presence of Ahmed Safi for long time and you know he then did a fantastic job latter to win a handful of medals in the Asian Championship, also including a gold in 2011. This is how you grow a team or a batch.

“Before going to Hangzhou Asian Games last year, we had held one month camp in Iran and before that for almost a decade we could not hold a foreign camp and this is a big issue which is obstructing karate growth.”

It must be noted that Pakistan Sports Board (PSB) is not supporting PKF in the entire venture.