Iranian Coach Set To Join Pak Judokas' Training Camp In Islamabad

Iranian coach Sajjad Kazmi is set to join Pakistan judokas' camp in Islamabad to prepare them for major international events, a senior official of Pakistan Judo Federation (PJF) said on Wednesday

ISLAMABAD, (APP - UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 11th May, 2022 ) :Iranian coach Sajjad Kazmi is set to join Pakistan judokas' camp in Islamabad to prepare them for major international events, a senior official of Pakistan Judo Federation (PJF) said on Wednesday.

"I've just talked to Kazmi. He was in the Embassy of Pakistan in Tehran to obtain his visa. Hopefully, he will be in Islamabad in a day or so and training our athletes," Masood Ahmed, vice president of PJF told APP.

"Our experience with Kazmi in the past has been very good. Hence, we've hired his services once again for the key international events," he added.

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. Recently, he was imparting training to Iran's police officials in Isfahan.

"We have a very hectic Calendar year for our judokas. A host of important events are taking place. Initially, we've decided to hire his services at least for one year." According to Masood, during Kazmi's last stint with Pakistan, the national judokas exhibited great performance. He honed the skills of Pakistan's top-notch judokas Qaiser Afridi, who is set to represent the country at the upcoming Commonwealth Games in the -100kg weight division along with Olympian Shah Hussain Shah, who will be competing in the -90kg weight division. This is for the first time that Shah will be appearing in this weight division.

Previously, he used to compete in -100 kg weight. Kazmi was also Pakistan's coach when Japan-based Shah earned 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.

He said that Pakistan sports board (PSB) had arranged a one-month training camp in Quetta to provide much-needed training to national judokas. "But today (Wednesday) we've shifted that camp to Pakistan Sports Complex, Islamabad where around 25 judokas will get training from Kazmi and other national coaches.

"After three weeks, we are planning to move the camp to Abbottabad," he added.

He said the federation was thankful to PSB for extending all-out support to the federation to prepare judokas for the Commonwealth Games (CWG), Asian Games and Islamic Solidarity Games (ISG).

"Our first focus is on the Birmingham Commonwealth Games, to be staged from July 28 to August 8. Shah and Afridi's participation in these Games is confirmed. But we also wanted to field at least two more judokas in the prestigious event, including Hamid Ali (+100 kg) of Pakistan Navy and Haseeb Mustafa (-81kg) HEC (Higher education Commission). We've written to Pakistan Olympic Association as well as PSB for that," he added.

Hamid is the gold medalist of the last South Asian Games, whereas Haseeb is another future bright prospect, who has been continuously showing his class at the national level.

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