PBF aims to train youth through Olympic Solidarity

KARACHI: Pakistan Boxing Federation (PBF) aims to benefit from the programmes of Olympic Solidarity, a project of the International Olympic Committee (IOC), to develop a strong young batch for national duty, a senior official of the federation said on Thursday.
“Our president is already working on that and it has almost been done,” PBF secretary Col Nasir Tung told ‘The News’ from Rawalpindi. “We are hopeful that with these incentives we would be able to raise the standard of our youth as our main objective is to work on youth development.”
The aim of Olympic Solidarity is to assist the National Olympic Committees (NOCs) through multi-faceted programmes prioritising athlete development, training of coaches and sports administrators and promoting the Olympic values.
The development and assistance budget approved by the Olympic Solidarity Commission for the 2017-2020 plan amounts to around $509 million corresponding to the share of the broadcast rights from the Olympic Games (Rio 2016 and Pyeong Chang 2018) which belongs to the NOCs.
Olympic Solidarity redistributes these funds through programmes offered to all NOCs recognised by the IOC.Nasir also revealed that Pakistan would be featuring in four weight categories in the Commonwealth Games slated to be held in Gold Coast, Australia, from April 4-15. “Yes, we will feature in four weights. And we have already sent names of 18 probables, three each in six weights. The squad will be finalised during the national camp which will begin at Islamabad after the National Championship which we plan to hold at Lahore from January 15-21,” Nasir said.
To a query, the PBF secretary said that the national event, which had been earlier scheduled in December, was rescheduled following requests from various departments which have planned their Inter-Unit competitions next month.
Nasir said that PBF plans to send top pugilists abroad for training ahead of the Commonwealth Games. “It’s in our plans. We have already filed request with Scotland’s boxing body and we have almost reached a consensus for a training stint with Kazakhstan,” the official said.
He was confident that Pakistan would perform much better in Australia. “I am very much hopeful we will produce the desired results in Australia. Our leading boxer Awais Ali Khan is one of our main hopes. If he gets good draws I am sure he will win a medal,” Nasir said.
He said there would be 20 senior and ten young boxers in the national camp. He was quick to add that AIBA had tentatively scheduled the Asian qualifiers for Olympics from March 23 to April 2 in China. “If it is confirmed then we will have to field eight boxers in the qualifiers. We have no good boxers in super flyweight and middle weight,” Nasir said.
He said that leading six boxers in each weight would qualify for 2020 Tokyo Olympics.About PBF’s financial issues, Nasir said that they were in contact with the Pakistan Sports Board (PSB) and the corporate sector. “From next year onwards we will streamline our working. We are also in contact with AIBA, seeking its assistance to educate coaches and referees,” the official said.