ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s Shah Hussain Shah suffered an early exit at Brasilia Grand Slam after losing his first-round fight to his Bulgarian opponent Dichev Daniel, according to the information made available here by vice-president of the Pakistan Judo Federation (PJF) Masood Ahmed on Wednesday.

Shah, ranked 62 in the world in -100kg division, did not concede a single point to world No. 37 Dichev but committed three minor errors to lose the all-important battle in three minutes and 25 seconds.

The event also served as qualifiers for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.

This is the same judoka against whom Shah went down fighting at the World Judo Championships in Tokyo in August this year.

According to the PJF vice-president, despite losing the fight Shah would accumulate five to six points to rise to 56th or 57th position after the conclusion of the event as his defeat came at the hands of a better ranked athlete.

“We are trying our level best to provide him [Shah] with maximum exposure. We will send him in a number of more events as we are sure he has the potential to qualify for the Olympics on continental quota by amassing the required points,” Masood maintained.

Shah must be at number 54 and maintain that position till the conclusion of qualification rounds in May 2020 to claim the 2020 Olympic spot.

Published in Dawn, October 10th, 2019