Foreign tour must for Rio preparation,says Pakistan boxing coach

KARACHI: Pakistan’s boxing coach Ali Bakhsh on Saturday stressed if the authorities want their pugilists to qualify for the Rio Olympics they would have to arrange a foreign training tour for them immediately after the 12th South Asian Games.

“Asian qualifying round in March is too important. After the South Asian Games, we will only have one month at our disposal and in that period the boxers must need a tour either of Kazakhstan, Korea or Thailand,” Ali told ‘The News’ in an interview from Islamabad.

Ali is imparting training to India-bound boxing squad at the Liaquat Gymnasium at the Pakistan Sports Complex in Islamabad.

The Asian qualifying round for Olympics would be held in Qian’an, China, from March 23 to April 3.

“It will also be helpful if some arrangement is made for us to stay in India and train there after the South Asian Games till China’s qualifiers,” Ali added.

Pakistan Boxing Federation’s (PBF) secretary Iqbal Hussain liked Ali’s suggestion, saying, he would be going to Islamabad on February 6 and would talk to the government.

“It’s not a bad suggestion. I will talk to India’s boxing authorities and the Indian Olympic Association (IOA) top officials besides consulting the Pakistan Olympic Association (POA) and Pakistan Sports Board (PSB). If we could manage something like this in India it would be very valuable for our boxers ahead of the qualifiers,” Iqbal told this correspondent.

However, Iqbal was quick to add that the PSB had told the PBF three months ago that it did not have fund in its exchequer for such tours.

“We don’t have time but still we will strive our level best to arrange any such tour for our boxers,” Iqbal conceded.

“Still we have some positives ahead of the qualifiers as the PSB has helped us to arrange a Cuban coach and he will come after the South Asian Games. The agreement has already been signed with him,” the official informed.

Pakistani boxers last visited Korea for training in 2010-11. Since then, no standard training has been imparted to the boxers. A source said that the PSB had given PBF Rs30 million for the preparation of 2012 London Olympics.

“And it is strange that the Board does not have a single penny this time for the preparation of 2016 Rio Olympics,” the source said.

Pakistan last featured in boxing in the 2004 Athens Olympics. It was the last batch prepared under the former AIBA and PBF chief Professor Anwar Chaudhry.

Since then Pakistan has only produced Mohammad Waseem, who excelled at the international circuit. But early last year, he too was forced by politics in the PBF to turn pro. He is now undergoing training in former boxing great Floyd Mayweather’s club in Las Vegas in the United States.

Ali Bakhsh said that South Asian Games would be a test event for the boxers ahead of the Olympic qualifiers.

“We will deeply monitor their performance in India. After the event we will see who needs to be replaced for China’s qualifiers,” Ali said.

“We have still a few good boxers in the back-up who could be given the chance in qualifiers if any one failed to impress in India,” said Ali, also an accomplished former boxer.

Pakistan will be fielding seven boxers in India’s event. They are Mohib Bacha (49kg), Syed Mohammad Asif (52kg), Niamatullah (56kg), Ali Ahmed (60kg), Gul Zeb (64kg), Arshad Hussain (69kg) and Tanveer Ahmed (75kg).

The light heavyweight, heavyweight and super heavyweight have been excluded from the list of events for the SAG.

Pakistan’s boxing squad is expected to leave for India on February 9 or 10. The boxing competitions will be held in Shillong from February 13 to 15.

Ali hoped four of his boxers could win gold medals in India.

“Although Indian boxers are strong. Afghanistan too have some good boxers but still we have a chance to lift gold in four weights,” Ali said.