Niamat, Ali suffer defeats in Baku

Rio Olympics world qualifying round

KARACHI: The Azerbaijan’s capital Baku seems to be turning into a burying ground for the hopes of Pakistani boxers as two out of five pugilists the country has fielded in the world qualifying round for Olympics were shown the exit doors, leaving the country in utter distress.

The experienced Ali Ahmed and Niamatullah failed to impress. Niamat on Friday night went down against Carlos Caraballo of Portugal 3-0 in the 56 kilogramme weight category fight, while young Ali Ahmed was on Saturday beaten by Yunusov Anvar of Tajikistan also 3-0 in the lightweight category.

The 2010 South Asian Games gold medallist Niamat fought valiantly against the Portugal pugilist who seemed much tougher and tackled the Quetta-born boxer adroitly right from the first round.

“It was a good fight as Niamat played upto his potential but his rival was much better,’ Pakistan Boxing Federation Federation (PBF) secretary Iqbal Hussain told ‘The News’.

Ali, who is regarded as one of the best future prospects, also gave tough time to the world’s top-ranked Tajik rival by resisting for all three rounds.

“Ali’s rival was very tough but playing against him for three rounds is a good effort,” Iqbal said.

After the two casualties, all eyes now would be on the remaining three boxers who would compete in their weights in a couple of days time in the slots in which boxers from around the world are fighting for 39 Olympic seats in ten weight categories.

Army’s highly talented — 2016 South Asian Games silver medallist — Awais Ali Khan will begin his 81 kilogramme journey with a fight against Shamov Surku of Norway on Sunday (today). Awais had also got bye in the preliminaries.

The strongly-built Awais is a big hope as the Attock-born boy has good techniques and often disturbs his rival with counter-attacks.

Syed Mohammad Asif will also show his mettle on Sunday when after getting bye in the preliminaries, he will battle against strong Tanes Ongjunta of Thailand in the pre-quarter-final of the 52 kilogramme competitions.

Asif, who is a new entry in Pakistan’s national circuit, has grown quickly and is the most impressive of the boxers due to his speed and confident approach.

The authorities have a lot of expectations from Asif who plays for Higher Education Commission (HEC).

Pakistan, who lost played in the 2004 Athens Olympics, needs a surprise at this stage to return to the Olympic fold after a long gap of 12 years.

After initially deciding not to field boxers in the light flyweight and two heavyweights because of minor qualifying chances in these weights, Pakistan faced a serious blow when their key player Amir Khan (69kg) failed to get his passport back from the Mexico embassy in time that denied him the chance to get his Azerbaijan’s visa for the qualifiers, the last chance for earning tickets for Rio de Janeiro. If national boxers failed to book seats for Rio then Pakistan will be represented by seven players in the world’s most prestigious event to be held in August.

Two athletes, two swimmers, two shooters and Japan-based judoka Shah Hussain will represent Pakistan in Rio. Barring the two athletes whose entries are yet to be finalised, foreign-based swimmers Haris Bandey and Lianna Swan and shooters Ghulam Mustafa and Minhal Sohail are set to become Olympians.