20-year-old Pakistani judoka dies after sustaining head injuries during her bout

Fiza Sher Ali, a 20-year-old Pakistani female judoka, died in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province after sustaining head injuries during her 44kg category bout in the Youth Talent Hunt program in Mardan.

Officials tried to rescue the girl through CPR before moving her to the hospital. Upon arrival at the hospital, the medical staff pronounced her deceased, as the head injury proved fatal for the youngster.

This is the second such instance in Pakistan of late. A few days ago, a 16-year-old Karachi-born female tennis player fell unconscious in her hotel room in Islamabad after taking part in a practice game in an ITF junior competition. She was declared dead upon reaching the hospital.

"She (Fiza) was a first-year BS student in Peshawar and had come to Mardan for the trials and was new to the sport," an official of the Pakistan Judo Federation said as quoted by PTI.

The official stated Fiza fell instantly during her match and didn't recover.

"She was given medical treatment at the venue and rushed to the hospital but didn't survive," he went on to add.

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Officials tried to contact the family of the deceased

Various schools and colleges in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa participated in the judo competition in Mardan from March 3 to March 8.

Officials involved in organizing the event stated that the students participating in the competition had arrived in Mardan on Saturday. Following the tragic incident of the girl, they attempted to reach out to the family of the deceased to facilitate the timely handover of the body.

Judo is an unarmed Japanese martial art and a judoka practices the sport. It made its inaugural appearance at the Olympic Games in 1964 in Tokyo, but it was included in the Olympic program in 1968 in Mexico City. Women's judo was later introduced to the Games in 1992 in Barcelona.

In Pakistan, the sport is governed by the Pakistan Judo Federation (PJF). A Pakistani women's team competed in the World Judo Championships for the first time in Tokyo, Japan, in 2010. The country sent its first judoka, Shah Hussain Shah, to the Olympic Games in Rio 2016 Olympics.