ISLAMABAD:Pakistan’s judokas will soon have an Iranian coach to prepare them for major international events, a senior official of Pakistan Judo Federation (PJF) said on Friday.
“We are set to hire the services of Iranian coach Sajjad Kazmi once again. Hopefully, we will be able to engage him by mid of next month,” Masood Ahmed, vice president of PJF told reporter.
Sajjad, who had a five-year coaching stint with Pakistan from 2012 to 2016 is a Black Belt 6 DAN. He belongs to the Iranian city of Bandar Anzali and currently imparting training to Iran’s police officials in Isfahan.
“We have a very busy calendar year for our judokas. Several important events are taking place. Hence, initially, we have decided to hire him for one year.”
“Currently, his case is in the Ministry of Inter Provincial Coordination and hopefully after the holy month of Ramadan it will be approved,” Masood said.
During Kazmi’s last stint with Pakistan, the national judokas produced standout performance. He honed the skills of Pakistan’s future prospect Qaiser Afridi, enabling him to come to the limelight. He was also Pakistan’s coach when Japan-based judoka Shah Hussain Shah claimed bronze medals in the Asian Championships in Kuwait and Bangkok.
According to Masood, back in 2009, Pakistan had sent its judokas to Iran for a one-month training programme wherein they were also trained by Kazmi. “During that short training stint, he provided such useful tips to our judokas that they won got gold medals in the 2010 Dhaka South Asian Games.
“Keeping in view his past services, we have decided to hire him once again,” he added.
The PJF vice president said that Pakistan Sports Board (PSB) had arranged a training camp in Quetta to provide much-needed training to the country’s potential judokas. “Kazmi will join our athletes at the Quetta camp, which has commenced on April 1.”
Currently, around 40 judokas are getting training at the camp and Masood said those displaying good performance would get the chance to represent the country at the international level. He said the judokas were being prepared for the Commonwealth Games (CWG), Asian Games and Islamic Solidarity Games (ISG). “We will provide an opportunity to our talented athletes to showcase their skills and potential at the international events. Their performance will be closely monitored during the camp and those displaying top form will be selected for the important international assignments,” he said.
”Our first focus is on the Commonwealth Games, which are slated to be held in Birmingham, UK from July 28 to August 8. We’ll try to send ten judokas – six men and four women in these Games,” he said. The ISG will be taking place from August 9 to 18 in Konya, Turkey. Then, the Asian Games, which are also known as Asiad will take place from September 10 to 25 in Hangzhou, Zhejiang, China.
He said Pakistan had a bunch of highly talented judokas, who would also be given a chance to fight in the UAE Grand Slam, Japan Grand Slam and in the World Judo Championship, which is scheduled to be held in Uzbekistan later this year.
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