KARACHI: Pakistan’s seasoned karateka Saadi Abbas went down to Abilmansur Batyrgali of Kazakhstan 8-0 in the -75 kilogramme weight category bronze medal fight of the Karate 1 Series A Richmond-Vancouver, Canada, on Sunday night.
Saadi, who was facing minor injuries, completely failed to show any resistance against his opponent, losing the show badly.
“When I reached for the fight my body was not ready for it. I guess that I did not train consistently and it could be the reason,” Saadi told 'The News' after the fight.
“I played four fights on the first day and then underwent a day’s rest which downed my body already battling minor injuries,” he said. “When I reached the warm-up area I told my friend that my body is not backing me. I am not disappointed that I lost the fight as it's part of the game but I am disappointed because I could not play and my body did not respond."
“My opponent got one point and the second he was given was wrong as he had hit me on the back,” he said.
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 on Friday. 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. Saadi, whose main target is this year’s Asian Games in Hangzhou, will now feature in the June 5-6 Toronto Open and June 10-11 Montreal Open. Before these events, he wants to feature in the 34th National Games slated to be held in Quetta from May 22-30.
Our Correspondent