Dream debut for Mehmood,Awais strolls to win in Asian Boxing

KARACHI: Pakistan’s heavyweight boxer Mehmood-ul-Hasan made a historic international debut when he defeated Mongolia’s Daivii Otgonbayar 3-0 to move into the quarter-finals of the Asian Boxing Championship in Bangkok on Saturday.
Meanwhile young Awais Ali Khan also blasted his way into the pre-quarter-finals when he edged Sri Lanka’s Gallage Ajith Nevil 3-0 in his opening bout in the preliminaries.
But it was not a good day for Navy’s talented boxer Qadir Khan, who fell at the first hurdle when he went 0-3 down to Nguyen Van Hai of Veitnam in the pre-quarter-finals.
As per details, Peshawar-born Mehmood-ul-Hasan defied all odds to outgun Daivii of Mongolia in the pre-quarter-finals. Mehmood, who had got bye in the preliminaries because of only 13 entries in the 91kg class, played valiantly against his rival with good height.
The debutant Awais, who plays for Army at domestic level, put himself just one win away from a possible spot in the World Championships when he whacked his Sri Lankan rival Gallage with an enviable ease in the 81kg weight category. As seven boxers will move into the World Championships from the class, a win in the pre-quarter-finals will almost ensure a berth for Awais in the global event which also serves as qualifiers for next year’s Rio Olympics.
It was expected that the experienced Qadir would deliver but he was crushed by his opponent from Vietnam in the pre-quarter-finals. Qadir became the second casualty for Pakistan in the slots after Mohibullah lost his opening bout against a boxer from Syria in the preliminaries in the light flyweight the other day.
Nadir Khan, Gul Zeb, Mohammad Tanvir and Wasim Arshad are the others representing Pakistan in the continental event which serves as qualifiers for the World Championships to be held in Doha in October.
Coach Ali Bakhsh, who trained all these boxers, was happy over their splendid performances.
“I am really happy that two of our boxers won their bouts,” Ali told ‘The News’.
Ali could not proceed with the boxers to Bangkok because he had sent his passport to Dubai for obtaining a visa of Samoa which would host the Commonwealth Youth Games next month.
In his absence, Mohammad Liaquat is acting as main coach.
“Both Mehmood and Awais made stunning debuts and I wish they make it to the World Championships,” said Ali, also a former international.
“But I was shocked to hear about Qadir’s loss. He should have won his bout. I expected more from Qadir and Mohibullah but it is sad that they both failed to win their opening fights,” he said.
The Asian Boxing Confederation (ASBC) has made some alteration in Sunday’s (today’s) schedule. It said that the bouts would begin from 11am PST with the evening session to be held at 4pm PST.