Zohaib, Niamatullah, Gul Zeb reach boxing finals

KARACHI: Asian Under-22 Boxing Championship bronze medallist Zohaib Rasheed, experienced Niamatullah and Gul Zeb were among those boxers who on Monday blasted their way into the finals of the DHA Inter-Departmental National Boxing Championship in Lahore.

In the 48-51kg semi-finals Zohaib of Navy Greens defeated Amir Hamza of PAF and Sajid Rashid of Navy Whites overpowered Jehanzeb Khan of WAPDA Greens. In the 52-57kg semi-finals, Zakir Hussain of Army Whites got the better of Musawar of WAPDA Greens and Ahmed Afridi of Army Greens whacked Sumama Rahman of Railways.

In the 54-57kg semi-finals, Syed Kamil of PBF Greens defeated Ahmadullah of WAPDA Whites and Ilyas Hussain of Army Whites defeated Qasim of WAPDA Greens.

In the 57-63kg semi-finals, Niamatullah of PAF defeated Mohammad Younis of Navy Greens while in the same weight pre-final Ibrahim of Army Whites got the better of Naqeebullah of WAPDA Greens.

In the 63-63.5kg semi-finals, Mohibullah of WAPDA Greens defeated Faisal Hanif of Navy Whites. The others who reached finals are Suleman Baloch, Saeed Anwar, Gulzeb, Qaiser Ali, Tanvir Ahmed, Bilawal Zia, Zeeshan Ali, Nazeerullah and Sanaullah.

The finals will be conducted on Tuesday (today). The event will help Pakistan Boxing Federation (PBF) to finalise the national squad for the Commonwealth Games slated to be held in Birmingham from July 28 to August 8.