LAHORE: The newly-elected president of South Asian Judo Federation Col Junaid Alam aims to increase the number of judo competitions in the region.
“You know South Asia is not that strong financially and if we are unable to go to Europe for an event then at least we could travel in our own region frequently to compete with one another and to promote judo,” Junaid told ‘The News’ from Abu Dhabi airport while on his way back to Pakistan after attending the electoral meeting of the South Asian Judo Federation in Kuwait.
Junaid, who was also nominated as vice-president of the Judo Union of Asia (JUA) on Wednesday, also held a meeting with the ambassador of Pakistan to Kuwait Malik Mohammad Farooq.
“He (ambassador) also managed my interaction with the business community of Kuwait and we also talked on the promotional aspects of judo in Pakistan. The ambassador also invited me to prepare a team to feature in the activities relating to the 60th anniversary of the diplomatic ties between Pakistan and Kuwait to be held in October. And I agreed,” Col Junaid said.
“We will try not to announce any activity at home during that time-frame so that we could materialise our plans.Kuwait is also the focal point of Asian judo as the JUA chief is from Kuwait and he is a resourceful person. We will materialise this in coordination with him along with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs,” he said.
It is pertinent to mention that earlier in June 2021, Col Junaid was also appointed as Director International Judo Federation (IJF) Military & Police Commission till date.
IJF is placed as one of the top federations of Olympic Movement with the largest network of National Sports federations of 207 member countries round the globe.
Our Correspondent