Zohaib to return home without participating

From our correspondent

BIRMINGHAM: Pakistan’s talented boxer and the Asian Under-22 Championship bronze medallist Zohaib Rasheed will return home without featuring in the Commonwealth Games.

'The News' has already carried a few stories during the last few days, mentioning that Zohaib’s name was not in the men’s flyweight draws.

Pakistan’s boxing team management had approached the organisers and according to the management they were told by the boxing delegate, handling boxing draws, that it had happened due to mistake.

On Monday night a senior official of PBF had told ‘The News’ that it was expected that his name would be included in the draws. But on Tuesday the PBF informed the Pakistan media that Zohaib has been denied the right to feature in the Games.

“It’s really a big disappointment,” Pakistan Boxing Federation’s secretary Col Nasir Tung said in a statement. “It was a mental torture for the boxer who remained in tension for three days due to mistake of others,” he said.

“Our boxer has not been treated well and we will not keep silent. We will not only write to IBA and CGF a letter but will also seek compensation via the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) for the damages done,” he said.

Later Nasir told 'The News' here on Tuesday that they would meet the world boxing governing body’s (IBA) representative on August 5 here and will seek his opinion on this matter.

‘Yes, we will meet him on August 5 and seek his opinion. We will also demand that an enquiry should be conducted which will prove whose fault it was. How can you miss a slot when you have got all the documents about the boxer?. We will not sit quietly and we will also seek damages via CAS in order to set a precedent so that in future such things don’t happen again,” he said.

“Zohaib was our medal hope and one of the finest boxers and the important thing is that he was kept in stress for three days and he did not eat keenly as well,” Nasir said. “We were told by the boxing delegate before the fight of Ilyas Monday that Zohaib could not be included in the draws now,” Nasir confirmed.