Army dominate National Boxing with 10 men in finals

KARACHI: Holders Army continued to dominate the Chairman KPT 40th National Men National Boxing Championship as their ten fighters reached the finals here at the KPT Sports Complex on Monday.

They were followed by Navy as their seven pugilists were able to confirm berths in the finals. As many as five boxers of WAPDA, three of PAF and one from Punjab qualified for the finals.

In men's middleweight (71-75kg) semi-final Tanvir Ahmed of Navy defeated Karar Hussain of WAPDA 4-1. In welterweight (63.5-67kg) semi-final, discarded international Gul Zeb of Army defeated Zia-ur-Rehman of Balochistan after the latter abandoned the fight in the first round.

In men's middleweight (71-75kg) semi-final, Saiful Manan of Army got walkover against Zahid Pathan of Sindh. In light heavyweight (75-80kg) semi-final, Asadullah of WAPDA got a walkover against Asal of Punjab while in the same weight category Qaisar Ali Qalandar of Navy defeated Ajmal Pathan of PAF 3-2 after a gruelling fight.

In men's cruiserweight (80-86kg) semi-finals, Hasnain Abbas of Navy defeated Faris Rasheed of KPT via RSC second round while Zeeshan Ali of Army downed Mehmood-ul-Hasan of PAF 5-0.

In heavyweight (86-92kg), Anas Mehmood of Navy downed Waseem of Police 5-0 and Irfan Khan of Army got the better of Aimal Uddin of PAF 5-0 to reach the finals. In super heavyweight (+92kg), Mirza Azam of PAF downed Ihtisham-ul-Haq of Navy 5-0 while Sanaullah of WAPDA lost to Azhar Ali of Army 4-1.

On Sunday night, in welterweight (63.5-67kg) semi-final, WAPDA’s Mohibullah defeated Najeeb of Sindh 5-0. In light middleweight (67-71kg) WAPDA’s Ahsanullah defeated Saeed Anwar of Army 3-2 after a tough fight while Navy’s Shahab Khan downed PAF’s Idrees 4-1. Meanwhile, in the 4th National Women Boxing Championship, in flyweight (50-52kg) final Maryam of KPT shocked Rimsha Ghaffar of Army 4-1 to clinch gold.