Olympic hopes KOed but bout continues

While the much-expected blame game continues, boxers in the country will continue to go this way unless concrete steps are taken to address the decline of the sport. -File photo

Pakistan’s medal hopes at the upcoming Olympics took a big hit after the failure of its boxers in the qualifying event in Astana, Kazakhstan.

Boxing, traditionally one of Pakistan’s strongest suits in world sports events besides hockey, was customarily being touted by officials and fans as a medal prospect but a number of factors saw those aspirations dashed.

But just a few days after the country’s top and last remaining prospect, Muhammad Waseem, lost his match against Mongolia’s Tugstsogt Nyambayar, a new bout has begun. It pits Pakistan Boxing Federation (PBF) President Doda Khan Bhutto against Akram the federation’s secretary Akram Khan. Khan on the other hand has been taking shots at the government, all parties blaming each other for the failed qualification campaign.

“I have no personal vendetta against the secretary but there were reasons why our team performed miserably in Astana and we failed to secure even a single berth in Olympics. The secretary made several changes among the coaches and also changed the team, which was finalized by the selection committee,” Doda Khan told PPI.

Doda accused the secretary of snubbing pugilist Aamir Khan, picked by the selection committee in the 64kg category and instead sending expatriate Haider Riaz, who is based in England. r Riaz was outclassed by Turkmenistan’s Serdar Hudayberdiyev in his light welterweight category fight in the preliminaries.

“The secretary helped Haider use the name of Pakistan to better his portfolio. We paid for his tickets and boarding and lodging, and he doesn’t even come to Pakistan after the event and flies back to England. He would also never play in national championships here. And his first round exit makes all this a little bit more ugly,” Doda said.

The president also criticized Akram of making changes among the coaches, which according to him seriously hampered Pakistan’s prospects.

“He even sent back coach Ali Baksh, who had been coaching players for a long time and had good relations with players. It is very difficult for players to come at the wavelength of new coaches especially few days ahead of a big event.”

Baksh had also been at loggerheads with secretary in the past over the issue of featuring Haroon Khan, the younger brother of former British light-welter weight champion Amir Khan, instead of Mohammad Waseem in 52 Kg weight category in the Qualifiers.

“Akram wanted Haroon in 52 Kg weight category and Waseem in 48Kg weight category. Waseem was at a big loss, coming down the weight category. Baksh supported
Waseem on the issue and was thus sent back.”

Waseem was allowed to compete in the category of his choice after winning gold in Shaheed Benazir Bhutto International Boxing Championship. Nisar Khan (49kg), Naimatullah (56kg), Haider Riaz (64kg) and Zulqarnain (69kg) were the other fighters vying for an Olympic spot in Astana.

Secretary Akram Khan, however, pointed his fists at the government for Pakistan’s failure, instead of defending himself against Doda Khan’s comments.

“We did our best, utilizing all possible resources we had but didn’t get any sort of interest shown by the government,” he said.

“Everything was planned in haste at the last minute, which created problems. Our grant was released two days before our departure so we couldn’t even go Kazakhstan nice and early for extra training.”

While the much-expected blame game continues, boxers in the country will continue to go this way unless concrete steps are taken to address the decline of the sport.

Until then, a repeat of Hussain Shah’s performance at the 1988 Seoul Games remains a distant dream.