Shihan Shah got his first taste of Kyokushin at the age of 14 while he was living in Iran, where his father was posted as a diplomat. The family later moved to Singapore, where he again started training Kyokushin under Shihan Peter Chong.

Some time after moving to Australia, he started again for the third time in 1991 at the age of 31 under the then Sensei Doug Turnbull. He finally got his black belt in 1996, almost 25 years after he first started, and he has been training in Kyokushin karate continuously ever since.

He started teaching Kyokushin karate in 1995, when he started teaching at Newtown North Public School while still a brown belt.  He got his shodan (1st Dan) the following year. He started Kuro Obi Martial Arts Dojo in 2011 and is now the chief instructor there and personally teaches most of the classes.

In September 2015, he received his 5th Dan black belt  from Hanshi Steve Arneil, under the auspices of the International Federation of Karate (IFK). Ten years later, in 2025, he was awarded his 6th Dan by the Board of the IFK, following the passing of Hanshi Steve Arneil, the founder of the IFK.

Since 2017 he has been the President of IFK Australia Inc, and has been working hard toward the promotion and development of the organisation.

Included among Shihan Shah's activities are:

• 4th place 1993 NSW AKKA Full Contact Championships
• 2001 Attending the First Ever IFK Black Belt Camp in Switzerland
• 2004 Attending the 2nd IFK Black Belt Camp in Switzerland
• 2006 Coach and judge at the 1st IFK World Junior Championships in Switzerland
• 2011 Judge and Referee at the 3rd IFK World Junior Championships in the UK
• 2014 Judged at the IFK Kata World Tournament in Belgium and received IFK International Kata Judging certification
• 2016 Attending the 3rd IFK Black Belt Camp in Holland
• Accredited IFK Clicker Referee and Full Contact Judge
• IFK Australia Contact, Clicker, and kata referee and judge
• IFK Australia Secretary 1999 - present
• IFK Australia President 2017 - present
• IFK Australia Tournament Coordinator for more than 10 years
• Australian Country Representative for the IFK (2004-2015, 2017-present)
• Level A International Referee for the World Martial Arts Championships.
• International Tournament Director for World Martial Arts Championships.

In his non-karate life, Shaharin Yussof is the oldest of 6 children, with a Malay father and a Swiss mother. Due to his father's profession as a diplomat, he has lived in 14 countries, and speaks 6 languages more or less comprehensibly. He has a both a Bachelors and a Masters (by research) degree in Electrical Engineering.

Before starting as a full-time Kyokushin instructor in 2011, he was a Professional Officer and IT support person at UNSW for 20 years.

He has two adult children. His son got his Kyokushin black belt at the age of 17, but is no longer training due to other life interests.

Shaharin Yussof's other interests include woodworking, using waste wood that people throw away, growing carnivorous plants and orchids, natural history photography, and caving.

This belt presentation box was made from someone's old hardwoord bookshelf. The belt is his own.

He has written a book called The Natural and other Histories of Batu Caves (ISBN 983 9681 04 4), and limited copies of this are available from him at the dojo for $25 AUD + P&H.

Check out his Instagram sites for his woodwork and his general photography.