PBF to pick 30 boxers for training

KARACHI: As many as 30 boxers, three in each weight category, will be picked for the national camp for the Commonwealth Games and Asian Games during the 36th National Boxing Championship, which will explode into action at the Wapda Sports Complex in Lahore on Saturday (tomorrow).

“The selection committee, which will carry representatives from all major units and senior coaches, would pick 30 boxers for the preparatory camp for the Commonwealth Games and Asian Games,” Pakistan Boxing Federation (PBF) secretary Col Nasir Tung told ‘The News’ on Thursday.

He said that the camp will be held at the Pakistan Sports Complex in Islamabad after the National Championship, which will last till January 24.He said that Pakistan would send four boxers for the Commonwealth Games slated to be held at Gold Coast, Australia, from April 4-15.

Nasir informed that the camp for international assignments would continue till the Asiad, which would be staged in Jakarta (Indonesia) and Palembang from August 18 to September 2.It is pertinent to mention here that this would be after a long gap of two years that such an event would be conducted. Last time Karachi had hosted the National Championship in November 2015.

The PBF on Thursday said that in the five-day competitions over 130 pugilists from Balochistan, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Punjab, Sindh, Islamabad, Army, Navy, PAF, Wapda, Railways, Karachi Port Trust (KPT), K-Electric, Police, Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK), Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA) and Gilgit-Baltistan will be showcasing their talent.

The managers meeting and draws will be held on Friday (today) from 2pm to 3pm at the competition venue. The PBF said that daily schedule of events shall be notified on day-to-day basis.