Juniors help Amir find his way back

PETALING JAYA: What goes around comes around.

National judoka Amir Daniel Abdul Majeed (pic) helped Penang’s youngsters prepare for the Malaysia Games (Sukma) in August. But when an early exit at last month’s Asian Games left him struggling to face the prospect of returning to training, those same juniors helped him find his motivation again.

“After a loss like that, you feel embarrassed. You don’t want to go back to training,” said Amir.

However, watching the youngsters work hard gave the 22-year-old the push he needed to get back on the mat.

“Seeing how hard my juniors were working made me think, ‘Okay, let’s start again.’ I wanted to enjoy training again.”

The disappointment in Japan came just two months after Amir made history by winning Malaysia’s first Commonwealth Games judo gold in Glasgow.

He took an early lead in his opening bout against Japan’s Sotaro Fujiwara at the Asian Games but was eventually beaten by ippon by the judoka who went on to win gold.

The reigning SEA Games under-81kg champion is now hoping to put those lessons into practice at the Hong Kong Asian Open from Nov 28-29 before returning to Japan for the Tokyo Grand Slam from Dec 5-6.

Hong Kong holds fond memories for the world No. 140, who won the under-81kg title there in 2024.

Tokyo, however, will offer a sterner test, with Azerbaijan’s world No. 1 Zelim Tckaev among the entries.

Both tournaments are part of Amir’s bid to qualify for the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics, with places available through the Olympic ranking list and continental quotas.

“The level will be higher. There are some very strong judoka, so it will be tough.

“We’ve been going over the mistakes I made at the Asian Games. We’re preparing well and hoping for the best results,” he added.