KARACHI: Talented karate player Saadi Abbas Jalbani and national wheelchair table tennis champion Zainab Barkat received a huge boost towards their journey to represent Pakistan in the Olympic Games and Paralympic Games Tokyo 2020 here on Saturday when Indus Motors Company (IMC) announced full fledged support for them in an impressive function at a local hotel.

“This is a part of the company’s global ‘Start Your Impossible’ initiative that reflects the Olympic and Paralympics spirit of encouragement, challenge and progress,” said CEO IMC Ali Asghar Jamali during a press conference.

Saadi Abbas, hailing from Lyari, has risen sharply to become the first South Asian to win Asian Karatedo Championship. Some of his achievements include gold medal in 4th South Asian Karate Championship 2017 Colombo Sri Lanka; silver medal in 4th Islamic Games 2017 BAKU Azerbaijan; gold medal in 7th Commonwealth Karate Championship 2014, Montreal, Canada and many more.

“IMC has supported athletes to keep Pakistani flag high in international events. We believe that Saadi Abbas and Zainab Barkat will achieve marvelous success in their journey towards Olympic Games and Paralympics Games Tokyo 2020” said Ali.

Briefing the media, President Pakistan Olympics Association, Lt. Gen. (retd) Syed Arif Hasan said: “There is a dire need of corporate sector coming up to support local athletes and IMC’s job in this regard is commendable. This does not only motivate local talent but help project the softer image of Pakistan globally. Pakistan Olympics Association is striving diligently to bridge resource gap for Olympics participation,” he added.

Talking to media on the occasion, Saadi said: “I will put in all my efforts to make my country proud. I am thankful to everyone who supported me and I appreciate IMC’s role in this regard. It’s great that they (IMC) are supporting other Pakistani talent in fulfilling their dreams and aspirations.”

Zainab Barkat said: “My dream will come true if I get to represent Pakistan in various Paralympic games through this support. My mission is to motivate other PWDs (persons with disabilities) so that they start believing in themselves and fulfil their dreams.”

Similarly, Zainab is a prominent wheelchair table tennis player who has shown incredible performance in national events. She started her ping-pong career on Feb 2, 2005 and striving since with a dream to win Paralympics gold medal for Pakistan.

Published in Dawn, July 2nd, 2019