US-born boxer joins Pakistan training camp

KARACHI: Washington-born boxer Umar Cheema, a probable for the Asian qualifying round for Olympics from Pakistan, joined the national camp which commenced on Tuesday here at the PSB Coaching Centre.

The 21-year-old Cheema, whose family is from Faisalabad, has been on the radar of the Pakistan Boxing Federation (PBF).

He is accompanied by his father Farhatullah Jamali who has a business in Washington.

The boy had reached Karachi a few days ago and was on Tuesday formally invited by the PBF to the camp for the qualifiers to be held in the Chinese city of Qian’an from March 23 to April 3.

“I want to play for Pakistan in all major competitions like Asian Championship, Commonwealth Games, Asian Games and Olympics,” Cheema told ‘The News’ here on Tuesday.

“In 2014 I won silver medal in the lightweight category in the USA Championship while representing Washington DC,” said the boxer, who knows Urdu but cannot speak.

He said that after playing for Pakistan it was his dream to also play professional boxing. Cheema’s entry for the Asian qualifying round has been made.

When asked how he found the facilities and hostel here at the PSB Coaching Centre, Cheema said, “Everything is fine.”

In the past, a few England-born boxers were tested but they could not make it to the national team.

Cheema will be put to test to see if he can represent Pakistan in the qualifiers.

“Yes, he will be tested. Media will also be invited to witness his trial bouts,” PBF secretary Iqbal Hussain told this correspondent.

His main fight for the spot in the national squad will be with WAPDA’s experienced boxer Ali Ahmed, who recently picked silver medal in 60 kg category in the South Asian Games in India.

Cheema has been trained by a Cuban coach.

The PBF will finalise its ten-member squad for the Asian qualifiers by March 5.

Around 80 percent squad has been finalised. A couple of changes are expected to be made to the seven-member squad that recently featured in the South Asian Games in India.

They will be joined by light heavyweight boxer Awais Ali Khan and heavyweight boxer Mehmood-ul-Hasan, who last year played in the World Championships in Doha. Mehmood fell at the first hurdle in the world event that served as qualifiers for Olympics.  As no solid boxer is available in the super heavyweight the PBF may face problem in picking one from the available choices of Mir Waiz and Mirza Azam.

“We will try to pick the best one from the available stock,” Iqbal said.

Cuban coach Comas Aguilera Bernardo is expected to join the camp in the next few days. “The agreement has been signed and sent to the IPC ministry for approval. Soon after the approval we will send him the ticket. He most probably will be here by the end of this month,” Iqbal said.

“I have no concern who will act as head coach,” he said when told that some boxers had concerns about getting a new coach so close to the Asian qualifiers. “My main target is that the boxers get top training and we will do what the boxers want,” Iqbal said.

“The qualifiers are very important. We want our boxers in the Rio Olympics at all costs because we have already missed the previous two Olympics,” the official said.

National boxers may face problem in the initial days with the Cuban because of the language gap. Former Cuban boxer Roldan was also not good at English.

Iqbal said 17 boxers attended the training camp on Tuesday, six were on the way and former Olympian Ahmed Ali’s younger brother was coming from Gilgit-Baltistan.

After the Asian qualifying rounds, Pakistan will appear in the world qualifying round in Baku in June.

In the Asian qualifiers, top three boxers in each weight will advance to the Olympics which will be held in Brazil in August.