ISLAMABAD: Eager to claim a spot at the Rio Olympics, Pakistan Judo Federation (PJF) has decided to send its only hope Shah Hussain for the Judo Grand Prix in Turkey, hoping the judoka will earn some vital points to claim a spot in the Games.

The Judo Grand Prix are scheduled to be staged in Samsun, Turkey from April 1-4.

Shah was earlier scheduled to participate in the Pan American Open that is underway at Buenos Aires, Argentina but according to PJF secretary Masood Ahmed, the judoka could not proceed to that country as the organisers failed to send proper invitation to him in time.

“We are in hunt for a spot in Olympics and Shah is our only hope for that. That’s why we’ve now decided to field him in Grand Prix as participation in this event will also provide him a chance to qualify for this year’s Olympics,” Masood told APP on Sunday.

Around 386 judokas are expected to compete in 14 events (seven each for both men and women) at the Summer Olympics at Rio de Janeiro, Brazil in August.

According to the Olympic qualification rules, the judokas will keep on playing in the qualifiers till May 29, 2016 after which the International Judo Federation (IJF) will prepare the final list of the judokas who will feature in the Olympics.

Masood said that the federation would also send Shah in the Asian Championship scheduled to be held in Uzbekistan next month.

“He won bronze medal at the Asian Championships in 2013 and 2015 and if he manages to get another medal this time too, he’ll be able to directly qualify for the Olympics,” Masood maintained.

Shah is currently world number 46 in 100kg while in the Olympics ranking he stands at number 54 and to get to the Games, he must be inside the top 34 before the end of May.

The PJF secretary said that though the federation was pinning high hopes in Shah, he would face stiff challenges from other judokas.

“We are not taking any event easy. All events are tough. Judo is mostly played in Asia and Shah will be facing some real challenges from other judokas in Asian Championships,” he said while pointing out that in last Olympics four gold medals were clinched by Asian judokas.

Published in Dawn, March 14th, 2016