National Men’s Boxing Championship

Asif, Mohibullah, Ali punch their way into quarters

By our correspondent

KARACHI: Pakistan’s promising international boxers Syed Mohammad Asif, Mohibullah and Ali Ahmed won their bouts to qualify for the quarter-finals on the opening day of the 36th National Men’s Boxing Championship which began at the WAPDA Sports Complex in Lahore on Saturday.

Asif, who is regarded an Olympic prospect, began his flyweight journey by beating Asif Raza of Navy. The former belongs to Army and has been a permanent member of Pakistan’s team for several years.

In the other flyweight fight, Bashir Ahmed of Police defeated Faizullah of Balochistan, Hamid Hussain of Sindh overpowered Momin Zaka of Punjab, Noor Elahi of Railways whacked Zafar Khan of K-Electric, and Mian Uzair Saeed of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa got the better of Ibrahim Ishtiaq of Islamabad.

Mohibullah of WAPDA overwhelmed Sheroz Kachi of Sindh in the light flyweight bout. In the other fight of the same class, Mohammad Saeed of Army defeated Maaz Khan of Railways. In the 56kg, Naqeebullah of WAPDA breezed past Fahim Ahmed of Pakistan Air Force (PAF). In the same weight, Mohibullah of Police defeated Hamza of KP, Mohammad Raza of Army got the better of Mohammad Naqeeb of Islamabad, Abdur Rehman of KE whacked Rameez Pervez of Gilgit Baltistan (RSC) and Ahmed Afridi of Sindh overpowered Naveed Ahmed of FATA (RSC). In the 60kg, Sheroz of Navy got walkover against Hamza Rahim of KP, Mohibullah of Balochistan defeated Haq Nawaz (FATA), Gul Mohammad (Police) beat Aqib Ali (Sindh) and South Asian former gold medallist Niamatullah (PAF) prevailed over Usama Akram (Punjab). In the same weight, international Ali Ahmed (WAPDA) outshone Aftab Shoukat of Islamabad and Railways’ Ashraf whacked AJK’s Rizwan Ahmed. In the 69kg, international Suleman Baloch of Army defeated Kher Mohammad of Sindh to move into the next round.

In the 1st National Women’s Boxing Championship, Razi Bano of Sindh prevailed over Rabia Bibi of Balochistan in the flyweight opening round fight. The event was in progress till filing of this story.

Earlier, Pakistan Olympic Association’s (POA) president Lt General (retd) Syed Arif Hassan opened the women’s championship, while WAPDA’s chairman Lt General (retd) Muzammil Hussain opened the men’s event, which is being held after a gap of two years.

The championship will help Pakistan Boxing Federation (PBF) pick 30 probables for the national camp which will be held after the event at the Pakistan Sports Complex, Islamabad.

Pakistan has a few vital international assignments this year. There are also plans to send four boxers to Australia for the Commonwealth Games which would be held at Gold Coast, from April 4-15.

Before that, Pakistan will also field its squad in the Asian qualifiers for the 2020 Olympics and in summer national pugilists would be taking part in the Asian Games, which will be hosted by Indonesia in Palembang and Jakarta.