Shahzaib Rind started karate at eight, in a wushu academy in Quetta. For a long stretch after that he learned from YouTube videos, because there was nobody around him doing what he wanted to do.
On 18 September 2024, in Singapore, he became the Karate Combat world lightweight champion.
Quetta, and a long way from anywhere
He began at the Young Tiger Wushu Academy in Quetta. His first provincial title came in 2011. His first national title did not arrive until 2019, at the National Games in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, which is eight years of competing in a discipline with almost no professional structure behind it in Pakistan.
The gap was closed by leaving. He eventually joined the Goat Shed gym in Miami under the coach Asim Zaidi.
The title, taken on short notice
The championship bout in Singapore was against the Brazilian Bruno Roberto de Assis, and Rind took it on short notice. He won, and became the first Pakistani to hold a Karate Combat world title.
His professional Karate Combat record at that point stood at seven wins and no losses. Across wushu and kickboxing his combined record is reported at 75 and 4.
What happened when he got home
Quetta gave him a hero’s welcome. The President announced a reward of one hundred million rupees.
Both of those are worth noting for the same reason. Neither existed while he was learning the sport from a phone screen. The money and the reception arrive after the hard part is over, which is how it usually goes for Pakistani athletes in sports the country has not organised itself around yet.
He is known as the Karate Kid. He was twenty six when he won the title.
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