662 to appear in Punjab Open Boxing C’ship trials

LAHORE: Sports Board Punjab (SBP) has issued trials schedule for Inter-Division Punjab Open Boxing Championship here on Friday. As many as 662 boxers from nine divisions of Punjab province will appear in the trials activity to select divisional teams for the mega event.

The championship will be held under the slogan of ‘Kaun banay ga Punjab ka boxing champion’ at State of the Art Punjab Tennis Court, Nishtar Park Sports Complex from May 12 to 15, 2018.

Secretary Sports Punjab Aamir Jan, in a statement on Friday informed that the trials of DG Khan, Bahawalpur, Multan, Faisalabad and Sahiwal Divisions will be held at 9.00am at boxing ring established near Tennis Stadium on May 5 while the trials of four Divisions – Lahore, Rawalpindi, Sargodha and Gujranwala will be conducted at the same venue and time on May 6, 2018.

Aamir Jan said that the competitions of Youth Class Boys (U-16) will be contested in 32, 36, 40, 45, 49, 52, 56, 60, 64 and 69kg weight categories. “The Elite Class boxers will fight in 49kg, 52 kg, 56 kg, 60 kg, 64 kg, 69 kg, 75 kg, 81 kg, 91 kg and +91kg weight categories. The women boxers in Elite Female Class will be in action in six weight categories – 40 kg, 45 kg, 48 kg, 54 kg, 57 kg and 69kg,” he explained.

Aamir Jan further said that overall 76 boxers from Rawalpindi Division (Rawalpindi district 35, Chakwal 16, Attock 20 and Jhelum 5) will participate in the trials. “From Sargodha Division, 69 boxers (Sargodha district 30, Bhakkar 4, Khushab 20 and Mianwali 15) have been selected for trials”. Gujranwala Division will have 50 boxers from five districts (Gujranwala district 20, Hafizabad 4, Sialkot 4, Narowal 10 and Gujrat 12) in the trials.

There are 109 participants from Lahore Division in the trials including 95 from Lahore district, 10 from Nankana Sahib and 4 from Sheikhupura.Faisalabad will have biggest number of boxers in the trials i.e. 135 including Faisalabad district 45, Jhang 20, Chiniot 30, and TT Singh 40. Sahiwal division will field 54 boxers in the trials including 38 from Sahiwal district, 8 from Okara and 8 from Pakpattan. As many as 80 boxers from four districts (Multan district 10, Vehari 25, Lodhran 16 and Khanewal 29) will represent Multan Division in the boxing trials. The participation of Bahawalpur Division will be 44 including 30 from Bahawalpur district, 8 from Bahawalnagar and 6 from Rahimyar Khan. Dera Ghazi Khan will field 45 boxers in the Inter-Division Punjab Open Boxing Championship trials. 35 boxers will be from Dera Ghazi Khan district while Rajanpur and Muzaffargarh districts will have 6 and 4 boxers respectively in the trials.