Pakistan gears up for World boxing meet

September 21st, 2011 - 7:53 pm ICT by IANS  

Aamir Khan Islamabad, Sep 21 (IANS) The Pakistani boxing squad is fully prepared and groomed to feature in the World Boxing Championship to be held from Sep 25 to Oct 8 in Baku, Azerbaijan, an official said here Wednesday.

Three Pakistani boxers and three officials will depart from the country’s southern port city of Karachi for Azerbaijan Thursday.

Pakistan Boxing Federation (PBF) secretary Akram Khan told Xinhua that Haroon Khan, the younger brother of light welterweight world champion Amir Khan, would directly reach Baku from London to join the Pakistani team.

Haroon will contest in 52kg category, Mohammad Waseem in 49kg category, Syed Mohammad Hussain in 56kg category and Aamir Khan in 64kg category.

The boxers who qualify for the quarter-final of the world event will be eligible for the 2012 London Olympics.

The PBF secretary was optimistic and hopeful that the four national boxers would get a couple of berths in 2012 London Olympics by performing well in the world event.

None of Pakistani boxers could qualify for the Beijing Olympics. Pakistan’s five pugilists - Mehrullah Lassi, Sohail Baloch, Asghar Ali Shah, Faisal Karim and Ahmed Ali Khan - had last appeared in the 2004 Athens Olympics but all of them failed to go beyond the second round.

Pakistan won the only Olympics medal in boxing at the 1988 edition in Seoul when tricky Hussain Shah showed his potential to beat many world-class boxers.

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