Pak boxers can win medals at CW Games: Nasir

KARACHI: A senior official of Pakistan Boxing Federation (PBF) on Friday said that the country was expected to win one silver and two bronze medals in boxing in the Commonwealth Games, pencilled in for April 4-15 in Gold Coast, Australia.

“I hope that our pugilists will be able to claim one silver and two bronze medals,” PBF secretary Col Nasir Tung told ‘The News’.The country’s experienced boxers Awais Ali Khan (81kg), Ali Ahmed (60kg), Gul Zeb (69kg) and Mohammad Asif (52kg) will represent Pakistan in the quadrennial competitions.

Ali Ahmed belongs to WAPDA while the rest of the boxers are from Army.The boxing competitions will be held from April 5-14. The managers meeting will be held on April 3.Arshad Hussain, AIBA’s three-star coach, will accompany the side as coach.

In the last Commonwealth Games held in Glasgow in 2014, Pakistan’s Mohammad Waseem, who is now a professional boxer, claimed silver medal in the flyweight category. He lost to Andrew Moloney of Australia in the final.

Nasir said that Awais and Asif were expected to do well. “I hope one of them will reach the final,” he said. He said that all the boxers were in good shape, and psychologically motivated.

“They will click InshaAllah if we got some good draws. In boxing draws are very important,” the official said.The pugilists have been picked on the basis of their performance in the National Championship held in Lahore recently.

This will be after almost one year that national boxers will compete at the international level. Pakistan boxers last appeared in an international event in the Islamic Games in Baku in May 2017. Pakistan failed miserably there. Awais featured in the World Championship in Hamburg, Germany, late last summer and lost his first bout.