Global wrestling stars to fight in Karachi, Islamabad

KARACHI: Karachiites and the people of Islamabad will be able to witness global wrestling stars as the Ring of Pakistan (ROP) is going to stage a big professional wrestling show in Karachi and Islamabad next month.

This will be the second successive year when around 20 wrestlers will be entertaining the public of both the cities. The organisers on Wednesday announced this at a formal launch of the second season here at Marriott Hotel. Tiny Iron and Bram of England, Badshah Khan of France and Rebel, the female wrestler from the United States, were also present at the launching ceremony.

In Karachi, the event will be staged on August 29. This will be followed by the show in Islamabad on August 31, the organisers said.

The ROP Director Imran Shah said that every effort will be made to make the event successful.

“We will try our level best not to repeat the mistakes of the previous season,” Imran said.

Last year’s show was staged at a venue located at the KMC Sports Complex in Karachi but this time the organisers aim to stage it in a much better and commodious venue.

“If we don’t get any large venue then cricket or hockey stadiums could be used for the purpose as more public will be able to witness the fights,” Imran said.

The organisers said that this time the event would be more reachable for the public.

“We are trying to keep the price of tickets fairly low this time,” Shah said.

To a query about the world’s heavyweight wrestler Goldberg of US, Shah said that effort will be made in future to bring in big stars like him.

Pakistani wrestler Badshah Khan, who lives in France, said that he was happy to be among his people again.

“Last season we managed to bring in 20 to 25 wrestlers from around the world and this time again we are waiting impatiently for the second season,” Badshah said.

He said that in future effort would be made to also include Pakistani wrestlers in the competitions.

“In future we want to make it 50-50. Not only will we try to entertain the people of Pakistan but will also like to give chance to the Pakistani wrestlers so that they could exhibit their skills at a major stage,” Badshah said.

Tiny Iron said that he was happy to be back in Pakistan. “I am happy to be here again following last year’s tremendous event. It was a wonderful, wonderful event,” Iron said.

“I like Karachi’s pan and food,” he said while responding to a question. Rebel said that she had a good time in Pakistan. “I like Karachi,” she said in Urdu. Bram was also happy to be in Pakistan.