KARACHI, Nov 13: Karachi Electricity Supply Corporation’s (KESC) little known Mohammed Ali gave Olympian Haider Ali a tought fight in the featherweight before going down on points in the semifinal of the First Pakistan Ranking boxing tournament being held at the National Sports Training and Coaching Center (NSTCC) Tuesday.

As expected fancied boxers from Pakistan Army, Wapda and Karachi Port Trust (KPT) won their semifinals although some of the fights were very close.

Haider was expected to have an easy outing against Mohammed Ali who however surprised his more illustrious opponent with a brave effort.

It was only the experience of Haider that eventually helped him to outpoint Mohammed Ali.

In another close encounter Nauman Karim of Pak Army defeated KPT’s Ali Mohammed Baloch to advance to the final where he will face Army’s Syed Hasan who defeated Dilawar Hussain of Sindh on a split decision.

In flyweight Pervaiz Akhtar of Army defeated Shahid Khan of Sindh on points while Obaidullah Qambrani of KPT outslugged his teammate Abdullah Qambrani to earn a place in the final.

Merullah of KPT easily defeated Noushad Fateh of Sindh in bantamweight division winning all three rounds. He will now meet Sohail Ahmed of KPT who edged out Army’s Mohammed Aqeel of Army in the other semifinal.

Semifinal results; Light flyweight: Nauman Karim (Army) bt Ali Mohammed Baloch (KPT) on points; Syed Hassan (Army) bt Dilawar Hussain (Sindh) on points Flyweight: Pervez Akhtar (Army) bt Shahid Khan (Sindh) on points; Obaidullah Qambrani (KPT) bt Abdullah Qambrani (KPT) retd third round Bantamweight: Mehrullah (KPT) bt Noushad Fateh (Sindh) points; Sohail Ahmed (KPT) Mohammed Aqeel (Army) points Featherweight: Mohammed Sheraz (Army) bt Irfan Khan (PAF) points; Haider Ali (Wapda) bt Mohammed Ali (KESC) points Lightweight: Faisal Karim (Army) bt Mohammed Pervez (Navy) points; Zahid Hussain (KPT) bt Nouman Askari (Army) points Light Welterweight: Imran Haider (Army) bt Mohammed Akram (PAF) points; Asghar Ali Shah (KPT) bt Mohammed Azam (Navy) walkover Welterweight: Abdul Hakeem (Navy) bt Pir Buksh (Sindh) points; Kashif Mumtaz (Army) bt Zakir Hussain (KESC) points Light Middleweight: Samar (PAF) bt Manzoor Ahmed (KPT) rsf first round; Andaleeb Khan (Army) bt Nisar Ahmed (Army) points Middleweight: Muzammil (Army) bt Ali Mohammed (Sindh); Ahmed Ali Khan (Army) bt Rashid (PAF) Heavyweight: Muzafar Iqbal (Wapda) bt Hanif (PAF)—PPI