JEDDAH, 11 January 2008 — Since the beginning of 2007, judoka Abdulrahman Al-Hazmi was bent on winning a title in the 11th Pan Arab Games in Egypt due to the event’s importance to the Arab nation.
But circumstances beyond his control deprived him of a chance to realize a lifelong dream. He has had problems at his club, the federation and at King Abdulaziz University where he studies. “I really worked hard this year to honor my club and nation but lack of cooperation kept holding me back especially when I asked for more support,” he told Arab News.
Al-Hazmi believes he trains well enough with his club Al-Wehda in Makkah, yet the federation insists he has to train abroad a lot.
“I’d love to progress but on the other hand I have my university and teachers who do not care at all and may flunk me for my continued absence even if it was for training,” he said.
That was why he had to reject joining his teammates at training camps several times this year, upsetting the federation and preventing him from participating at the Arab Games. “It is just so hard trying to please all of them,” he said.
The 22-year-old said after feeling depressed at being excluded from the national team for the Arab Games, he was looking forward to the Arab Judo Championship held in Syria in December. “I trained there for two weeks before the event kicked off along with two other teammates of mine. We were in perfect shape and fit to compete,” he said. But competing in the Syria event by themselves and unaccompanied by a Saudi federation official proved their undoing.
On the first day, Al-Hazmi managed to beat his first opponent but then lost against the second. He still nurtured hopes, but the transportation difficulties they faced got worse to the point that he missed the game on the second day.
“When I finally arrived at the stadium, I heard them announcing the last call for me to show up. The Egyptian judoka I was suppose to compete against refused to play, but he still won by default,” he said with a voice full of regret and misery.
“If we had an official with us it would have been easier for us to be at the game on time” he said. Meanwhile, the other two Wehda players managed to bring home two bronzes — Naif Al-Shreif in the under 81 kg weight category and Ali Al-Minyawi in the under 60 kg.
The breakthrough win at an international stage seemed to elude Al-Hazmi, who finished seventh in the Doha Asian Games in 2006 and fifth in the 2007 Kuwait Asian Judo Championship for the under 66 kg weight category, where he lost to world champion Arash Miresmaili of Iran.
The athlete is now hoping for more support because the 2008 Beijing Olympics are getting closer. “The national coach will start training the team in March in preparation for the International Judo Open championships in Tunisia, Morocco, Algeria and in France.
Then from there to the Asian Judo Championship and the qualifying rounds for the Beijing Olympics. I certainly don’t want to miss that and I want to win that” he said.
