PBF to field only one boxer in Asian Championship

KARACH: Because of financial issues Pakistan Boxing Federation (PBF) has decided to field only a single boxer in the Asian Boxing Championships which will be held in Bangkok from April 17-28.

“Yes we have opted for only a token participation and are going to field only Amir Masood in the next month continental event,” PBF secretary Col (retd) Nasir Tung told ‘The News’ on Monday.

“You know, we wanted to field at least five to six boys in the event but we don’t have money and so cannot go with a solid squad,” Nasir said.Amir, who won silver medal in the last National Championship in the 64 kilogramme weight category, belongs to Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. He had been beaten by Army’s Suleman Baloch in the final of the national event early last year. However it has been learnt that Suleman faces fitness issues and the PBF decided to send Amir to Bangkok.

He will be sponsored by the KP Boxing Association. The KP Boxing Association’s secretary Syed Kamal Khan will accompany Amir as manager.

“Amir is a young boxer and will be making his international debut in Bangkok. He has grown over the years by having fought very well against the seasoned boxers. Giving him the chance will help us to judge him how he could be productive for the country in future,” Nasir said. He said that they also requested Army and WAPDA if they could back their pugilists for the Asian Championships but they did not respond positively. “It also gives us a lot of pain that we are sending only one fighter but we cannot help. When there is no state support it is always difficult to train more boxers and field them in major events,” he said.

He added that they had requested the federal government for funding the PBF but it said that it was not possible.Amir is undergoing training with fighters from Pakistan Air Force (PAF) at Peshawar.

“He has got good sparring partners in Peshawar and will prepare well. He is a former youth national champion and has also titles to his credit at various age-group competitions,” Nasir said. Once Pakistan was regarded a force in Asian boxing but now the national boxers have been facing tough time because of lack of support. Since taking part in the 18th Asian Games in Indonesia last year in August-September national pugilists have been sitting idle due to no official camps and activities.

Pakistan is also ahead this year qualifiers for 2020 Olympics and the South Asian Games slated to be held in Nepal from December 1-10. Nasir said that they had submitted the plan with the Pakistan Sports Board (PSB) till Olympics but there was no response from them. After having won the PBF elections a couple of years ago the current set-up headed by Khalid Mehmood wanted to see at least someboxers in the next year’s Olympics but the financial position of the federation and the state behaviour towards sports in general show that the same target could not be achieved.

Pakistan last featured in the 2004 Athens Olympics and since then only a single boxer has been able to reach the quarter-finals of the Asian Qualifying round for Olympics a few years ago.The Asian Boxing Championships will be held simultaneously for men and women for the first time since its inception way back in 1963 in Bangkok.

March 19 was the last date for registration in the event. The women’s Asian Championships has had seven editions so far, the last being in Vietnam in 2017.The championships will be held in ten weight classes for both men and women. The competition will be held at the Huamark Indoor Stadium which has a capacity of 6,000 seats.