LAHORE: Pakistan’s most destructive taekwondo fighter and Asian bronze medallist Haroon Khan on Friday said that he is determined to win the first-ever medal for Pakistan in the Asian Games slated to be held in Hangzhou, China, from September 23 to October 8.
“Pakistan has never claimed a medal in the Asian Games history in taekwondo and I am confident to create history. InshaAllah I will put the country on the Asian Games medal table in taekwondo which is the most competitive sport of the world,” Haroon told ‘The News’ in an interview from Pakistan Sports Complex Islamabad where he on Friday joined the national camp for the preparation of the Asian Games.
This will be the second time that Haroon will be featuring in the Asian Games.
In the 2018 Asian Games held in Indonesia he fell in the round of 16 to Indonesia’s Ibrahim Zaman after beating Myanmar’s Aung Kyaw Kyaw in the round of 32.
Haroon, who has given tough time to even the world’s best fighters, recently did well in the World Championship in Baku where he was beaten by Russia’s Georgi Gurtsiev in the round of 16. The Russian then finished with a silver medal.
In the first round against the Russian, Haroon was leading with two points. The Russian unleashed a foul punch which landed on Haroon’s throat and left him utterly unsettled.
Before losing to the Russian, Haroon defeated Serbia’s Uros Belanovic and Egypt’s Mostafa Mansour in his first two encounters to make it to the pre-quarter-finals.
Haroon said that Pakistan Taekwondo Federation (PTF) is managing top quality training for them, which will help in the Asian Games.
“After playing in Dubai, we went to Iran for a month-long training and again before the National Games we had a 15-day training stint in Iran. Our Iranian coach Yousuf Karami had managed fights for us against Iran’s national team fighters and that helped a lot,” Haroon said.
He said that the quarter-finals will be the key in the Asian Games. “It all depends on draws. In the past I faced some tough draws which prevented me from taking medals. If luck favours then inshaAllah I will be able to give good news to the nation,” the Quetta-born 25-year-old fighter said.
Besides taking bronze in the 2021 Lebanon Asian Championship, Haroon has to his credit gold in the 2019 Nepal South Asian Games, gold in the Pakistan Open, two silvers in the G-1 events and six bronze in both the G-1 and G-2 events.
Asked why Pakistan is unable to claim medal in the Asian Games when it has to its credit medals in the Asian Championships, Haroon said their confidence level never remains the same.
“Our confidence level is not constant. It shoots up when we go for foreign training or competitions as we get there tough opponents but when we come back and play with weaker opponents then the confidence level comes down inside one month. This is the big issue,” he said.
This correspondent has learnt that the PTF is expected to send its fighters for further training and competitions to Korea next month. Shahzeb, Hamza and Arbaz Khan are the other top fighters of the country who are expected to do well in the quadrennial event.
Meanwhile, the PTF president Col Wasim told 'The News' that the PTF has done everything to provide exposure and top training to the fighters.
“And it is now the responsibility of the fighters to claim medals in the Asian Games. If we can get medals in the Asian Championship then why not do it in the Asian Games,” Wasim said.
Alam Zeb Safi Alam Zeb Safi is a senior reporter for The News