Army annex National Boxing title

ISLAMABAD: Army retained the National Boxing Championship title with a formidable last day performance at the Amir Khan Gymnasium Islamabad Friday.

In what turned out to be exciting finale, Army scooped up seven out of ten gold medals at stake to take the National Boxing Championship honours. Army also earned two bronze.Wapda boxers gave good account of themselves and were unlucky to end up on losing side in couple of close fights.

Syed Mohammad Asif (gold-Army) and Attaullah (silver-Wapda) were seen hitting out at each other in tough bout. It was almost difficult to judge the winner but Army’s Syed Asif turned out to be lucky enough to win the title. Even the crowd and all present were uncertain as which way the decision would go. Asif ultimately was declared winner with barest of margins.

Sanaullah Khan (91kg) was exceptional in his approach as he outclassed Anis Taj in one of the fiercer fights seen during the finals. He was exceptional with his blows that made life difficult for Anis.

Majority of fights turned out to be a close contest with Army boxers making good use of opportunities.Wapda took three gold and two silvers to finish second in the event.

Akbar Hussain Durani, secretary Inter provincial Coordination (IPC) was the guest of honour and distributed prizes among medal winners and coveted trophy to Army.Also present on the occasion was Mohammad Khalid Mehmood, President Pakistan Boxing Federation (PBF), Fiaz Ahmad (deputy Secretary IPC) and Secretary Boxing Federation Col (rtd) Nasir Tung.

Results: 46-49kg light flyweight: M Saeed (gold-Army), Daud Khan (silver-Navy), bronze: M Munawar (Railways) and Shoaib Rasheed (Army)52kg flyweight: Syed Mohammad Asif (gold-Army), Attaullah (silver-Wapda): bronze M Qasim (Balochistan), Mehroz Ali (PAF).

56kg: Bantamweight Naqeebullah (gold-Wapda), Naimatullah (PAF-silver); bronze M Ismail ((Army) Ahmad Afridi-Sindh)60kg: Lightweight: Ibrahim Khan (gold-Army), Mohammad Ashraf (silver-Railways): Sikandar Mirza (Balochistan) and Shiraz (Navy) bronze.

64kg light welterweight: Ali Ahmad (Gold-Wapda), Adnan Hasan (silver-PAF), Salman Baloch (bronze-Army)69kg welter: Gul Zaib (gold-Army), Aamir Khan (Silver-Wapda), Samar Abid(KPK) and Abdul Samad (Balochistan)

75kg middle weight: Saiful Manan (gold-Army), Tanvir Ahmad (silver-Navy), bronze; Saifullah (Wapda), Isanullah (Balochistan)

81kg light heavyweight: Awais Ali Khan (Army-gold), Ajmal Pathan (silver-Balochistan); bronze: Faisal Khan (Wapda) and Naeem Khan (PAF)

91kg heavy weight (gold-Sanaullah-Wapda), Anis Taj (silver-AJK), bronze: M Ali (Sindh) and Mehmoodul Hasan (Sindh)

91kg plus Super-heavyweight Ahmad Ali (gold-Army), Mirza Azam (silver-PAF), bronze: Abdul Hameed Karar (Wapda) and Yasir Jameel (Sindh).