ISLAMABAD: The Pakistan Judo Federation is organising a 15-day elite-level training programme in Japan for judokas Mohammad Hasnain and Humaira, a PJF official said on Tuesday.

“These judokas will undergo rigo­rous training next month at Saitama Prefecture campus of Japan’s Niiza University,” PJF vice-president Masood Ahmed told APP.

“A large number of judokas from all over the world get training in Japan. As these judokas [Hasnain and Humaira] have the potential to win gold medals in the South Asian Games, we’ve arranged training for them in Japan,” he added.

The 13th edition of the South Asian Games will be held in Nepal from Dec 1 to 10.

Hasnain (-66kg), the reigning national champion, also seized silver medal at the military judo championships in Uzbekistan.

According to Masood, Humaira (-49kg), the current national champion, is South Asian gold medallist. She is an outstanding judoka, who has claimed the national title for a record consecutive nine times in her weight category.

“Usually, a judoka from a foreign country is allowed only a 2-3 day training session in Japan. How­ever, the All Japan Judo Federa­tion has allowed over two weeks training stint for our judokas.”

Both these judokas are also part of Pakistan’s four-member team that is set to battle at this year’s World Judo Championships taking place in Nippon Budokan Tokyo from Aug 23 to 28.

The other two members are Pakistan’s Japan-based judokas — Shah Hussain Shah (-100kg) and Amina Toyda (-57kg).

Published in Dawn, August 7th, 2019