Kohat is located in the province of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP), a backward area adjacent to the Tribal areas that remained under the clouds of terrorism for a very long time. “It is the place where women are mostly kept limited to their homes without even education, so how to talk of sports...", explained the First Vice-President of the Federation, Ahmed Mansoor. The Kohat District Judo Association, an affiliated body of the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) Judo Association, is part of the Pakistan Judo Federation.
On October 13-14, the KP Judo Association in collaboration with Kohat District Judo Association and Kohat District Sports Officer organized the 13th Inter-Divisional Judo Championship, which this year could welcome men and women in an open area in Kohat. The competition was supervised by the national Federation.
“The purpose was to promote the 'Gender equity' cause to the native of the area and to the people of Pakistan and to tell them that our country is a place of peace rather than terrorism. That’s why we have organized the championship for men and women simultaneously“, said Ahmed Mansoor, who is also the president of the KP judo association, before adding: “The purpose of the championship is to convey the message of the Gender equity that men and women are equal in all respect including sports“. The competition was a real success and the numerous spectators who came to watch the championship very much enjoyed it.
Dr. Lisa Allan, IJF Gender Equity (GE) Commission Director declared: 'We the GE commission and the GE conference speakers are absolutely delighted to hear of this project and that it was in part influenced by the IJF first GE conference. It is an excellent example of what can be done to promote gender equity. We know that conditions can be difficult and challenging, but when people such as the leaders of the Pakistan Judo Federation have the will to change things, they can change the world.“
Event details The event was organized over two days (October 13-14, 2018) in 4 different categories for Men (-60, -66, -73, and +73KG), and Women (-44, -48, -52, and -63KG) at Kohat Sport Complex Gulshanabad. A total of 64 athletes, 16 team officials and 8 technical officials participated, coming from 7 provinces (Peshawar, Mardan, Hazara, Lakki Marwat, Kohat, Malakand and D.I. Khan). For the record, it is the province of Peshawar with a total of 90 points (5 Gold, 1 Silver and 1 Bronze Medal) which finished at the first position. Kohat with a total of 55 points (2 Gold, 1 Silver and 3 Bronze) finished second, while Hazara (1 Gold, 3 Silver and 1 Bronze) with 50 points got third position.