England-born Hasan leaves boxing camp

KARACHI: England-born Hasan Mehmood left the national boxing camp being held in Islamabad after having done sparring for a couple of days with the national boxers who are preparing for the world qualifying round for Olympics, penciled in for June 14 to 26 in Baku, Azerbaijan.

Young Hasan, hardly 17, had come with the intention to become part of Pakistan’s touring party but he could not match the standard of local boxers and decided to return.

Sources said Hasan made the right decision as he needed a lot of improvement.

As many as 20 boxers are preparing for the qualifiers, the last chance to earn tickets for Rio de Janeiro.

Pakistan had failed to field boxers in the Asian qualifiers held in March and April in China due to financial problems.

This time the Pakistan Sports Board (PSB) is likely to support the boxers.

Pakistan’s boxers last featured in Olympics in 2004 in Athens.

Six to eight boxers may be fielded in Baku.

Two boxers in the light flyweight and one each in the two heavyweights will qualify for Rio Games.

In the remaining seven weight categories five boxers each will qualify.

Pakistan are yet to finalise their squad. “We are yet to make it final. We are waiting for a top official of the federation to come and finalise the players,” a team coach told ‘The News’.

The Pakistan Boxing Federation (PBF) wanted to hold trials on May 17 and 18 but delayed them due to certain reasons. Now the PBF is expected to hold trials next week.