Army men and women win boxing titles

KARACHI: Army on Tuesday were crowned champions of the 40th Men’s National Boxing Championship which concluded here at the KPT Sports Complex.

The results of flyweight and minimum weight categories were yet to be confirmed as Navy had challenged the decisions of these bouts involving their two key fighters Zohaib Rasheed and his brother Sajid Rasheed, who lost their finals 3-2 controversially to Mohammad Faheem from Army and Attaullah from WAPDA, respectively. The technical committee was reviewing the fights and final decision was yet to come till filing of this story. With one final result, involving Army, still awaited, Army finished at the summit with nine golds, two silvers and one bronze.

The second position holders will be confirmed after the outcome of the pending two decisions.

Meanwhile, Army also emerged as champions of the 4th Women’s National Boxing Championship contested in seven weight categories by claiming three gold, two silver and one bronze. Pakistan Air Force (PAF) finished second with two gold and two bronze while Sindh finished third with one gold, one silver and two bronze medals.

National Bank’s Regional Head Azam Durrani was the chief guest during closing ceremony who gave away trophies to the top teams. Also present was the KPT’s General Manager (A) Brigadier Tariq Bashir.

The event in which 175 men and women took part was organised by KPT with the collaboration of the Pakistan Boxing Federation. This was after long 28 years that KPT organised a national event. In men’s super heavyweight final, Azhar Ali of Army downed Mirza Azam of PAF 4-1.

The heavyweight gold went to Army’s Irfan Khan who toppled Navy’s Anas Mehmood via RSC first round. The cruiserweight gold was won by Army’s Zeeshan Ali who conquered Hasnain Abbas of Navy 5-0.

In the light heavyweight final, Navy’s Qaisar Ali Qalandar defeated Asadullah of WAPDA 5-0. In the middleweight final, Army’s Saif-ul-Manan defeated Tanvir Ahmed of Navy 4-1. In the light middleweight final, WAPDA’s Ahsanullah whacked Navy’s Shahab Khan 5-0. Gul Zeb won the welterweight gold when he downed Mohibullah 5-0. In the light welterweight final, Army’s Ibrar Ali knocked out Dawood of PAF in the first round to snare gold.

In the lightweight final, Ibrahim of Army defeated Shahab Uddin of PAF 5-0 while the featherweight gold went to Zakir Hussain of Army when he got walkover against Naqeebullah of WAPDA due to fitness issues of the latter.

The bantamweight gold went to Mohammad Qasim of Army who defeated Somama Rehman of Punjab 5-0.

In women minimum weight final, Army’s Ummul Banin got the better of Areeba of Punjab 5-0. In the light flyweight final, Army’s Sehar Atif defeated Bushra Akhtar of PAF 3-2 after a splendid fight in which both fighters offered tough time to each other.

In the flyweight final, KPT’s Maryam defeated Rimsha Ghaffar of Army 4-1. In the bantamweight final, PAF’s Razia Bano downed AJK’s Komal Akhlaq 4-1. In the featherweight final, Army’s Fatima Zahra downed Zainab of Balochistan after the latter abandoned the fight in the first round.

In the heavyweight final, Sindh’s Sabia downed Azka Ashfaq of Punjab 5-0. In the super heavyweight final, Army’s Afra Khurram defeated Sindh’s Sajida after the latter abandoned the show in the second round.