Awais, accompanied by coach Arshad, leaves for Germany

KARACHI: Pakistan’s top boxer Awais Ali Khan and his coach Arshad Hussain flew out of Islamabad for Hamburg, Germany, in the wee hours of Monday to feature in the World Boxing Championships which will be held from August 25 to September 2.

“Yes, they left for Germany today via Istanbul around 3am,” Pakistan Boxing Federation’s (PBF) secretary Col Nasir Tung told ‘The News’ on Monday.Nasir hoped that Attock-born Awais would put in his best in the global event in which a galaxy of world and Olympic champions would compete.

“Awais has worked hard for the last two and a half months. He is in good shape and very confident,” Nasir said. He said that the PBF had trained him with the available resources. “We have trained him with the available resources. You know the world championship is the toughest event. But I have faith in Awais as he is a valiant fighter and can click if he gets good draws,” Nasir said.

Awais will compete in the light heavyweight competitions.A few days ago his coach Arshad Hussain told this correspondent if Awais played like he did in the Asian Championship, he might finish at the victory podium.

Awais is the only Pakistani boxer to have qualified for the World Championship as he beat India’s Manish Panwar in the box-off fight in the Asian Championship held in April and May in Tashkent.

Awais had lost to Yerik Alzhanov of Kazakhstan in the quarter-final of the continental event.In the pre-quarter-finals, he had ousted Alyazouri of Jordon 5-0 in an enthralling fight.

As many as 280 pugilists from around the world will be flexing their muscles in the competitions which will also be witnessed by the International Olympic Committee’s (IOC) president Thomas Bach.

After the country’s premier amateur boxer Mohammad Waseem turned pro in early 2015, it seemed that Pakistan would not be able to impress in amateur circuit any more. But Awais, who plays for Army, showed his determination and finally made a cut for the global event.

The PBF considered sending him abroad for training ahead of the Hamburg competitions but failed to arrange that.From August 25 to 28, preliminaries will be conducted, which will be followed by the quarter-finals on August 29, semi-finals on August 31 and finals on September 2. On August 24, technical meeting and official draws will be held.