During an interview with ‘The News’ on Thursday Malik Iftikhar said that the four players including Syed Maratab Ali Shah (60kg), Asghar Hussain (65kg), Rukhsana Anees (48kg) and Nazia Pervez (52kg) have gone through a tough training programme from February 16 to March 26 in Iran and they are now looking very fit for the Asian Martial Arts Games in Bangkok.

“These four players along with few others were sent to Iran for training on March 26 where they also took part in different competitions. The activities there have boosted their match temperament and now they are ready for Bangkok,” Iftikhar, who will also accompany the squad to Bangkok as manager cum coach, said.

The secretary, while pinning great hope on Syed Maratab Ali Shah, said that he is a fantastic fighter and has been more consistent at international level. Maratab has not only got bronze medal in the Doha Asian Games in December 2006 but also claimed another bronze medal in the Asian Championship held in Macau in May last year, he said.

He said that Asghar Hussain, a silver medallist of the South Asian Games, is also a talented young player. Syed Maratab Ali plays for WAPDA while Asghar Hussain represents Army at domestic level. However, Malik was not much sure about Rukhsana Anees and Nazia Pervez (both from Punjab), saying they are valiant fighters but one cannot expect from them any medal in the Bangkok Games in which all the big guns of Asia are participating.

Malik said that he is more focused on physical training of the players because wushu is a very tough game and if a player is not physically fit, he will not succeed.

He said that it was his game plan to send the players to Iran for training much earlier. “The weather in Iran is very cold these days while in Thailand it is too hot. So the players were sent to Iran for training earlier so that they could be trained also in the warm condition of Pakistan before they could go to Bangkok,” Malik said. Pakistani players are currently training at the Wushu Mini Sports Complex in Lahore.