KARACHI: Pakistan’s seasoned karateka Saadi Abbas will compete in a bronze medal fight against Abilmansur Batyrgali of Kazakhstan in the male kumite -75 kilogramme weight category in the Karate 1 Series A Richmond-Vancouver, Canada, on Sunday (today).
Despite a serious knee injury the former Asian champion had a bright start to his journey when he beat Abdoun Ilyes of Canada 6-1 and Leon Tomljanovic of Croatia 4-0 in his first two fights in his pool. However in his third fight he went 0-1 down to Algeria’s promising youngster Oussama Zaid.
Saadi was then given repechage and there he conquered Carlos Avila Villarreal Julian of Mexico 5-3 to set a bronze medal fight with Kazakhstan’s Abilmansur Batyrgali.
“I was injured but I played with a certain plan and it went well,” Saadi told ‘The News’ from Canada.
“It is a competitive event. Look, I lost to Algeria’s fighter who is a junior world champion. I played a very close fight with him and in the final three to four seconds he put pressure and I attacked but he was given the point, otherwise I would have been in the semi-finals," he added.
“All players are of good level here and the Kazakh against whom I will be playing the bronze medal fight is also of high standard in the world rankings,” said Saadi, who also now has settled in Canada after moving there from Dubai a few months ago.
“You know my target is Asian Games and I wanted to play here just to know where I stand. However I could not execute more as I felt pain in my knee when I pushed more. But thanks God plan went well and now pray for the bronze,” said Saadi, also the silver medallist of the Islamic Games.
“If I get recovered properly I will be able to play in an explosive mood,” said Saadi, also the former US Open champion.
“I will definitely come for the National Games. On June 5-6 Toronto Open will be held and on June 10-11 Montreal Open will be conducted and I will feature in both these events and will then see how it goes onwards,” said Saadi, the two-time champion of the Commonwealth Karate Championships.
Our Correspondent