Pak boxers treated unfairly: coach

KARACHI: Pakistan boxing coach Ali Bakhsh on Monday revealed that his two boxers were denied sure medals in the Fourth Islamic Games held in Baku.

“Mohibullah and Niamatullah had great chance to win gold but they were not treated well in their quarter-finals by the referees,” Ali told ‘The News’ in an interview after returning from Baku where his seven-member side failed to clinch any medal.

“The Syrian who beat Mohibullah in the light flyweight quarter-final went on to win gold and the Iraqi boxer who defeated Niamat in the quarter-finals clinched silver in the 60kg competitions. Mohib and Niamat could easily have won gold medals had they not been treated unfairly in their quarter-finals,” said Ali, an AIBA 3-star coach.

He alleged that a deal had been agreed by various nations and they knew who would win which medal.

“Iraq was given one gold and one silver and one gold and one silver were handed to Syria,” he alleged. He said that a Pakistani referee Younis Pathan was also there but he was not assigned duty after the quarter-finals because of a few bad decisions by him.

“There should be referees from Pakistan in such events. The referees observe the whole proceedings and the boxers of their own countries also get advantage of their presence,” Ali said.He said that Mohammad Asif was unlucky to get injured in the flyweight quarter-final. “He could also have won a medal. But he received a heavy cut on his right eyebrow that forced the referee to stop the fight in the third round against a fighter from Azerbaijan,” the coach said.

Asif got seven stitches in his eyebrow. He said that Awais did not live up to the expectations.“I don’t think Awais played well in his light heavyweight quarter-final. He did not play the way he did in the Asian Championships in Tashkent,” Ali said.

Awais has, however, qualified for the World Championships after beating Indian boxer in the continental event in Tashkent held just before the Islamic Games.Ali said his fighters did well in Baku. “Although we did not win any medal, our performance was not bad. All boxers did their best,” he said.

The playing style of nations outside Asia in the Games surprised Ali. “In Asia there is technique. In the rest of the nations I did not see any technique. Their boxers were playing like freestyle wrestlers. They were pushing their opponents, keeping their heads down and were landing undisciplined punches. If we are to counter them we have to pass our boxers through wrestling training,” the coach added.

He agreed with Pakistan’s professional boxer Mohammad Waseem that Pakistan should test different boxers in international circuit. “I agree with Waseem. He has raised a good point. We should test more boxers and that will help us find the best for national duty,” Ali said.