No boxer will qualify for Rio: Tariq

KARACHI: Pakistan’s senior boxing coach Mohammad Tariq Siddiqui on Sunday predicted that no boxer of the country would qualify for the 2016 Rio Olympics.
“How can a boxer make it to Rio when Pakistan Boxing Federation (PBF) is doing nothing to provide quality training to boxers,” Tariq told ‘The News’ in an interview from Lahore on Sunday.
“The next month’s Asian Championship serves as qualifiers for the World Championship which serves as qualifiers for Rio. Top boxers like Mohammad Waseem needed training on foreign soil for at least three months ahead of the continental event. But nothing has been done by the PBF,” Tariq said.
“The PBF secretary Iqbal Hussain thinks that with a 20-day training his boxers will qualify for the world championship. I think he is wrong. Top boxers of Asia will feature in the Asian Championship and it will be difficult for our boxers to compete with them,” said Tariq, who coached Mohammad Waseem who won silver medal in the 2014 Glasgow Commonwealth Games.
The Asian Championship will be held in Thailand from August 26 to September 5. The World Championship will be hosted by Qatar in Doha in October.
Pakistan play Asian qualifying round for Rio early next year for which the dates and the venue are to yet to be disclosed.
When asked about Waseem’s chances in the Asian Championship, Tariq said Waseem himself was really disturbed. “Waseem has been demoralised by the PBF officials. He has been giving different dates regarding his foreign training tour. But in reality there is no such thing in the pipeline. There is very short time left now and with such training, even if it is now on foreign soil, even Waseem will not be able to produce any result,” Tariq predicted.
“I know the strength of the boxers as I have seen all of them. I don’t see any spark in them and even if they are drawn with the boxers from Bangladesh they have no chance,” said Tariq, who coaches WAPDA’s boxers.
After touring Glasgow with Pakistan’s contingent, Tariq was dropped from the Incheon Asian Games coaching panel at the eleventh hour. The PBF claimed at that time that Pakistan Sports Board (PSB) did not give ticket to Tariq.
Ali Bakhsh served as coach of Pakistan’s squad in the Asiad in which Waseem won bronze medal for the country after 12 long years.
Tariq said there were differences between PBF president Doda Bhutto and secretary Iqbal Hussain.
He said that Doda was better than Iqbal. “In South Korea where we went for training recently it was Doda who came there and extended support to us. Iqbal did not even give me the daily allowance of our South Korea tour despite several promises,” Tariq said.
He said in order to put boxing on right footing the PBF officials would have to work sincerely. “The officials should not fight for seats. They must think for boxing if they want to bring any kind of improvement in the standard of the game,” Tariq said.
The PBF has shortlisted 18 boxers for the Asian Championship. The squad will be finalised by the middle of August.
Iqbal plans to send Waseem to Japan on the invitation of former Pakistani boxer Hussain Shah for 20 days training on July 28. But no concrete development has been made in this regard so far.