Shah Hussain Shah is your ultimate comeback kid at 2026 Commonwealth Games
The Olympian's record for bagging medals for Pakistan at the Games is 100 percent
“I just know that I will keep fighting for Pakistan as long as I can, till the last ounce of my strength,” Pakistani judoka Shah Hussain Shah said as he was concluding his last training session in Tokyo before leaving for the 2026 Commonwealth Games in Glasgow.
The 33-year-old will be continuing the glowing international sports legacy of his father, Hussain Shah, who won the country’s first individual medal and the first boxing medal at the Olympics in 1989.
Shah wants to make his international comeback count; after all, it is at the event where he picked up an injury that kept him out of the game for four years.
In many ways, Shah is starting over.
There is a very potent Pink Floyd lyric: A movement is accomplished in six stages/And the seventh brings return.
It speaks of cycles of change and renewal, that one returns to better days after a period of dark.
One can say it is very apt for Shah’s journey, as he is returning to Glasgow for the 2026 Games with hopes of repeating his feat from the Glasgow 2014 Games, when he bagged his first medal -a silver-at the multidisciplinary event in -100kg.
Even in the last edition of the Games in Birmingham, he bagged a bronze medal.
Shah’s success ratio for Pakistan has been 100 percent so far, as he has brought a medal home in every Commonwealth Games he competed in.
But things have changed since 2014; Shah is no longer 21 years old. He is wiser and has more international experience than any other Pakistani judoka.
He is also one of the most under-rated Pakistani athletes despite becoming the first in his sport to qualify for the 2016 Olympics and then do it again in the Tokyo 2020 Summer Games.
The two-time Asian Judo Championship medallist is one of the most unique combination of Balochi and Japanese culture.
He is shy, often quiet, but he mostly speaks through his performances on the tatami mat while the world watches him.
Record-maker
One can say Shah is truly a unique character not only Pakistani, but also in world sports.
His background makes him stand out, and then his perseverance and determination to make his own mark while combining the best of both Japanese and Pakistani values and cultures.
He will be making a rare record for Pakistan with his 2026 appearance in the Commonwealth Games on short notice.
“At first, I didn’t know I would be competing, but then I was told that I could, and I started training for it four to five months ago,” Shah told Lost on the Desk from Tokyo, right before taking the 19-hour-long flight to Glasgow.
“I will be returning to Glasgow, yes, but I feel it’ll be different this time, primarily because I will be competing in a different category.
“My go-to event was always -100kg, but now, since I am making a comeback, I will be competing in the +100kg event.
“I think I am going to be the only judoka to have competed in three Commonwealth Games and in a different weight class each time. So I am excited about that. I think it is a record.”
Shah is the only one to do it thrice; Malaysia’s Amir Daniel Abdul Majeed competed in different weight categories at the Commonwealth Games (73kg in 2022 and -81 kg in 2026).
Weight matters
Shah has been among the top 50 judokas in the world in the -100kg category, so to see him change it was surprising.
His category of choice for the 2026 Commonwealth Games is +100kg, which has no upper limit.
“My decision to change my weight category was based on the fact that I have been out of competitions for such a long time; I have gained quite a lot of weight, so naturally I set my eyes on a category that was +100kg, which accommodates my natural weight well,” reasoned Shah.
The two-time South Asian Games champion stands 6’3 feet tall, and he has been working hard to ensure a top physical condition before the Games.
His weight gain comes in the aftermath of injuries he sustained at the 2022 Birmingham Games.
But Shah is now on a mission to try and complete his Commonwealth medal collection with a gold medal.
“I feel I have a good chance to win a gold medal if all goes well. I already have the Commonwealth Games silver and bronze, so I will definitely try to have gold this time against all odds,” said the 33-year-old.
Tough comeback journey
For any athlete, a knee injury spells the end of their career.
Shah picked up that injury during the 2022 Birmingham Games, and since then he had to step away and recover before deciding to represent Pakistan again.
“It has been a challenge, but I am feeling very good because my objective of fixing my injuries has been met.
“I had a right knee posterior cruciate ligament (PCL) injury right after the 2022 Birmingham Games, then my shoulder was also dislocated.
“So I had to slow down and dedicate my time to recovery,” explained Shah.
He has also made it his aim in life to make Pakistan proud, and has carved his own name in his sport the best way he could, which was to learn from his mistakes.
‘Even a mistake is not a mistake’
Shah is incredibly resilient, and his pursuit of excellence lies in a philosophy he follows.
“I had learned early on that one needs to try, and as long as we are trying, it is going to be alright. In that context, even mistakes are not mistakes; they are lessons and feedback that we take to improve ourselves.
“The greatest mistake is not making any mistakes. I apply this philosophy in sports and in everything, because it is all a journey,” explained Shah, who trains in his gym that he is near his residence in Tokyo. He is also running a business, developing apps, all in addition to his strict judo training.
Shah has been training for the Commonwealth Games for almost five months now, and he dedicates at least three hours each day concentrating on physical fitness, cardio, and technique.
Shah is extremely aware of the challenge he will face in Glasgow, and he touched upon the surface of his strategy for his fights.
“Glasgow will be a challenge for a few reasons, firstly I’m coming back after a long time, four to five months is not enough time to prepare for a major event as I have just recovered from injuries, and the new category has its own new difficulties, like my muscle weight is not as much as it should be for +100kg event, other competitors will have more strength than me.
“I have cut down a significant amount of weight, even now for the +100 kg event.
“Earlier, when I used to compete in -100kg, I would still shed at least seven kilograms each time. When I competed in the 2022 Commonwealth Games, I competed in the -90 kg event, which was tough, and I had to shed even more weight.
“I am tall, and I generally weigh a lot more than 100kg. I have always lost weight before the events, so it is not difficult for me; however, my age is also a factor this time around. I am getting old.
“The best strategy that I have in mind is that I have the agility of a -100kg judoka, so I can apply that and counter the strength of others with this quality, and I will try to play my own game.”
Shah said that he had been researching all of the possible contenders against him at the Games.
He also added that losing too much weight, as he did for the 2022 Birmingham Games, can be dangerous. He said that while he bagged a bronze medal in that edition, he did feel weak during the fight.
‘With the help of friends, I get by’
To get the job done successfully and to defend his podium spot, Shah has recruited his best friend from high school, Takehiro Yamashita, who is a certified sports sciences professional and a qualified coach.
Shah asked the Pakistan Judo Federation to help get Yamashita as his coach for the Games, as he can get a friend, a counselor, a physiologist, and a coach in one person.
“I felt it’ll be a huge help for me, Yamashita has been by team-mate in the high school team in 2012, he and I trained in camps together, he went on to be a part of the Japanese national team, so he is very professional and accomplished, and he is also my friend, I thought who else could help me at this stage of my career better than him?” said Shah.
He added that Yamashita also helped Shah in training by providing input on mistakes he was making, “His feedback is very insightful, which helps me improve and work on my weaknesses.”
Plans after the Commonwealth Games
Shah is eager to represent Pakistan at the Asian Games in September and the South Asian Games that are scheduled for next year.
Meanwhile, Shah is also concentrating on building his own business and developing an app, pray-spot.com.
He emphasized that athletes must build a backup career for a more well-rounded life.
“I have developed my app, and this helps Muslims who are travelling abroad to spot prayer spots and halal food. I felt a lot of us face this issue, especially in Japan; you can’t find a single mosque or place to pray, and so goes for halal food. We’ve all faced this issue when we travel, so I thought this could be a way to help my community, and it will bring people together,” said Shah.
He said that being an international athlete helped him grow a thicker skin when it came to failure in business and app development, as he has seen many people lose hope and quit their pursuit if they are unsuccessful.
But as an athlete, he was able to remain resilient, disciplined, and determined to achieve his goals outside of the sports field.
“The athletic life teaches you to trust the process,” he summed it up.
Shah is proud of his achievement with the app because he feels it is difficult to manage a professional career and a business together.
“I think the next four to five years will be about managing my business and my athletic career, and I am happy with this because not a lot of people can do it well.
“People in Japan find it very desirable for athletes to have education and businesses outside of the sport.
“I think the newer generation of athletes understand that we will retire from sports one day and we need education to build other things. I feel it is important to have other skills,” reflected Shah.
When it comes to conversations about his future at home, he revealed that he and his father do not talk about sports much.
“It is something very strange; we don’t talk about sports, but he is always impressed with my ability to manage my weight well, like I can lose several kgs in a short amount of time before competitions, and he thinks it is incredible, but other than that, we don’t engage in that conversation,” said Shah.
Unique identity of being a Pakistani-Japanese
Shah went to school in Japan, has lived his entire life in Tokyo, but he has been deeply connected to Pakistan through his parents, who speak their mother tongue at home, and he has only ever represented Pakistan, as his father wanted to see Shah win medals for Pakistan just like him.
When asked if he finds any similarities in the two cultures, he laughed and took his time to reply: “I think there is one similarity between Pakistanis and Japanese people, it is that both are hardworking. Another similarity is that both people are humble, but I feel Pakistanis are a lot more expressive with their affections than Japanese people.”
Regrets over the 2020 Olympics
While Shah fondly remembers his first international medal when he was competing in the Asian junior cadet championship at 16 years of age, he feels that one of his biggest regrets was the Tokyo Olympics.
Shah is extremely humble about his achievement, but he made history when he represented Pakistan at the 2016 Olympics. He was the first Pakistani judoka to do so.
“I think the Asian Junior Championship is my most memorable event because I never thought much about how I was making history, how this was the first time any Pakistani had won that medal; I was just competing and doing what I loved doing.
“I do feel I was at my peak during 2019 and 2020, right before Covid-19 hit,” he reminisced.
Shah was among the top 50 judokas in the world in 2019, and even broke into the world’s top 40 judokas in the -100kg weight class in November 2019 ahead of the Tokyo Olympics, which were eventually postponed due to the global pandemic in 2020.
Shah consistently hovered inside the top 50–74 in the general International Judo Federation world rankings during his prime qualification cycles.
“I was doing so well; I think I was one of the first people from Pakistan to qualify for the 2020 Olympics as well.
“I was hoping to win a medal in Tokyo, but when the coronavirus pandemic hit the world, I was unable to travel abroad for training, and I couldn’t train in Tokyo professionally because they didn’t allow foreign athletes to use the facilities when the Japanese national team was training. I got trapped in such a bad situation,” revealed Shah.
But he has put those regrets behind him as a lot of factors were just not in his hands, and he was just unlucky.
“I had to take that setback on my chin; it still bothers me sometimes, but we can only look forward,” concluded Shah with the hopes of a better future both on and off the field.