Pak pugilists face tough test in Asiad

KARACHI: After having failed to live up to the expectations in the recently-concluded 21st Commonwealth Games in Australia national boxers will have to pass again through tough test in the Asian Games slated to be held in Indonesia from August 18 to September 2.

The totally unprepared national pugilists have very little time at their disposal. And Pakistan Boxing Federation (PBF) has now asked the Pakistan Sports Board (PSB) for a camp for the Asiad from May 5.“Yes, we have requested the PSB to give us camp from May 5 in Islamabad so that we could prepare well for the Asiad,” the PBF secretary Col Nasir Tung told The News on Wednesday.

“Time is very short and we are have to do more work so that good preparations could be made,” Nasir said. Nasir said that leading 30 boxers would be invited to the camp in the respective weights. He revealed that the top seven weights including 49kg, 52kg, 56kg, 60kg, 64kg, 69kg and 75kg have been kept by the organisers in which competitions would be held in Indonesia. It means that the country’s experienced boxer Awais Ali Khan (81kg) will have no chance to become part of the brigade.

The women will compete in 51kg, 57kg and 60kg. “It is not yet final in which weights we will send our female entries but we will hold camp in all three weights for women,” the official said. But mere training in Islamabad will not be enough for such a tough challenge which also will carry some strong central Asian nations like Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan. And the PBF has planned for providing exposure to the budding boxers ahead of the Asiad.

“We are in talks with both Uzbekistan and Iran. Our plan is to send our cream to Iran for a few days and then before Asian Games, we would try to send that to Uzbekistan full-fledged training. It would be of great benefit if we are able to manage some exposure to our boxers,” Nasir said.

Pakistan’s coach Arshad Hussain, meanwhile, has said that without proper foreign training national boxers would not be able to perform in Indonesia. “What I think is that the Asian Games are much tougher than the Commonwealth Games. We will have Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, Azerbaijan, Japan, Korea and Thailand who have very good boxing standard and to compete with them our boxers will need a high quality training on foreign soil,” Arshad told this correspondent.

“For Commonwealth Games our boxers did not get the quality of sparring which was necessary because we don’t have more good boxers in Pakistan and so the only way to provide good training to the budding lot is to send them abroad,” said Arshad, also a Commonwealth Games bronze medalist. When asked if Awais reduces his weight then he may become part of the Asian Games touring party, Arshad said: “It would be very difficult for him to reduce six kilogramme weight as it will weaken him,” Arshad said.

In the last Asian Games in Incheon, South Korea, in 2014, Pakistan had claimed bronze medal through the now professional boxer Mohammad Waseem who brought the country back on the continental event’s victory podium after a lapse of 12 years. Before Waseem’s feat in the flyweight, Pakistan had claimed one gold, two silver and one bronze medal in boxing in the 2002 Busan Asian Games.