KPT set to host National Boxing Championship

KARACHI: Around 200 national boxers are set to get a golden opportunity to impress the selectors, who will be picking fighters for the national camp for the Asian Games, when they feature in the Chairman KPT 40th Men and 4th Women National Boxing Championship beginning here at the KPT Sports Complex on Thursday (tomorrow).

All the teams will arrive in the city on Wednesday (today), and draws will be held at 7:30 pm. All the affiliated units of the Pakistan Boxing Federation (PBF) are set to participate in the event.

“I congratulate KPT chairman as Karachi is a boxing hub and KPT has produced top boxers. After a long time this organisation has come forward to serve boxing by hosting the National Boxing Championship,” the PBF secretary Khalid Mehmood told a news conference here on Tuesday. "The KPT’s initiative to organise such a major event will leave solid impact on Pakistan’s boxing," he said.

Khalid was flanked by the KPT Sports Manager and organising secretary of the event Major (retd) Mehmood Riaz, PBF General Secretary Col (retd) Nasir Tung and event Director Asghar Baloch.

“The boxers who excel here will be picked for the Asian Games camp and will be properly groomed both at home and abroad so that Pakistan could grab a medal in the Asian Games,” Khalid said.

“The leading boxers will be picked from here and will be put in the national camp. We will try to hold the camp for the cream lot immediately after this event. And after that there will be National Games and a competition will be there also. If a boxer, who is in the national camp, is beaten by a fighter in the National Games then that winner will be picked for the camp. And after the National Games such boxers will have to pass through a couple of more events before finding a place in the Asian Games squad so that we could form the best side for the Asian Games,” Khalid elaborated.

He said that the involvement of the corporate sector is must for promotion of any game. “Until and unless corporate sector sponsors our sports we cannot excel in the field only through state support. We are lucky that we have been backed well by the DHA and in Ramadan we will give a good representation to the DHA regarding the 1st DHA Boxing League in Pakistan and we will hold that event after the Asian Games,” Khalid revealed.

“Once the DHA League, which will carry initially six teams, begins then definitely it will help develop boxing standard,” said Khalid, also the secretary of Pakistan Olympic Association (POA).

Revealing the details of the event, the PBF secretary Col Nasir Tung said that KPT is going to hold the elite national event after 28 years.

“Men will compete in 13 weight categories while women will flex their muscles in seven weight categories. We hope that we get the best talent from this platform,” Nasir said. “Besides the armed forces, WAPDA, Railways, KPT, Police, Higher Education Commission (HEC), K-Electric, four provinces, Islamabad and AJK will feature in the event. We hope we will find such a talent here which will help Pakistan win a medal in the Asian Games and will impress also in the 2024 Paris Olympics Qualifiers,” Nasir said.

KPT Sports Manager and the event organising secretary Major Mehmood Riaz thanked the PBF for giving them the opportunity to host such a big event.

“I am thankful to the PBF for giving us the opportunity to organise national event of a major sport after such a long time,” Mehmood Riaz said.

Two women technical officials will also deliver their services during the event for which the gymnasium has already been prepared.