ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s ace judoka Qaisar Khan Afridi has flown out to Mongolia to compete in the -100kg event of the Ulaanbaatar Grand Slam, the Pakistan Judo Federation (PJF) said on Tuesday.

Some 227 judokas from 28 countries will participate in the event, which is due to take place from June 24 to 26 in the Mongolian capital.

“Prior to featuring in the event, Qaisar will attend a nine-day training programme there being organised by the International Judo Federation (IJF) in collaboration with the Mongolia Judo Association,” PJF vice-president Masood Ahmed told APP.

According to Masood, three more judokas — Hamid Ali (+100kg), Haseeb Mustafa (-81kg) and Mohammad Asif (-73kg) — were also likely to leave for Mongolia in the next few days to train there as well as compete in the Grand Slam.

He said the PJF had applied for no-objection certificates (NOCs) for the remaining judokas. “Their case has been submitted to the interior and foreign ministries and they will fly to Mongolia as soon as the permission is granted,” Masood said.

“Our judokas’ participation in the Ulaanbaatar Grand Slam is very important also because this will be the first qualifying round for the 2024 Paris Olympics,” the PJF official underlined.

“After competing in the Grand Slam, Qaisar will return to Pakistan to appear for biometric verification for the UK visa to participate in the Commonwealth Games being held in Birmingham from July 28 to Aug 8.”

Qaisar alongside compatriot judoka Shah Hussain Shah will feature in the Commonwealth Games, the PJF official added.

Published in Dawn, June 15th, 2022