November 19, 2002	Tuesday	Ramazan 13, 1423

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KARACHI, Nov 18: Pakistan boxing officials have chalked out a comprehensive plan for the promotion of the sport including the introduction of the game at school level, officials said Monday.

Pakistan Amateur Boxing Federation (PABF), under the leadership of its president Prof Anwar Chowdhry, has decided to focus on cadet boxing to groom the youngsters from early stage.

A meeting involving representatives of the four provincial associations was held recently where PABF directed them to initiate school and cadet boxing.

The provincial bodies will hold cadet boxing contests before April next year to prepare the youth for the national cadet championship to be hosted by Karachi in May next year.

PABF will facilitate the provincial associations by providing equipment and boxing gear for organising the cadet events.

The selected boxers would then be sent to Romania to participate in the world cadet boxing championship likely to be staged in June.

To spread the base of the game it was decided to run coaches and referee-judges courses in the provinces and districts in May under the supervision of local and foreign experts.

Following recognition and considerable grant from the government after excellent performance at Asian Games, PABF now looks towards the next challenge — the SAF Games from March 29 to April 7 in Islamabad.

PABF has been granted Rs10 million annually until 2004 Athens Olympics. The government sanctioned the amount after Pakistan boxers won six medals including a gold at the Asiad in Busan.

“PABF has asked Rs3million from Pakistan Sports Board and SAF secretariat for a training tour to Azerbaijan in February to train our boxers for the coming SAF Games,” Chowdhry said Monday.

However, the Pakistan squad would tour Azerbaijan even if the authorities decides against sanctioning the desired amount, the official said.

Chowdhry said 24 boxers would be called up for the SAF Games training camp in Karachi after the return of coach Reinaldo Alvarez Ulicia who has gone on vacation to his country, Cuba.

Ulicia would also select boxers for the Games from the Jan 13 to 16 national championship in Lahore.

To hone their skills, Pakistani boxers would first participate in the Al-Fajr tournament in first week of February, and then travel to Baku, Azerbaijan, to take part in 7th Prof Anwar Chowdhry international tournament from March 15 to 22.

PABF confirmed that 3rd Green Hill boxing championship would be organized in Karachi between May 12 and 18 in which 15 to 20 countries are expected to take part.

The meeting also decided that affiliated departments would not be able to field in any tournament a boxer who is not on its payroll for less then six months either on contract or regular employment. Likewise, departments would not include any boxer without the consent of pugilist’s parent organization.

PABF officially confirmed that light-welterweight category had been dropped on the instructions of the International Olympic Council to maintain 11 weight divisions instead of 12. The new weight categories come into effect from Jan 1 next year.

Eleven weight categories are: light-flyweight (48kg); flyweight (51kg); bantamweight (54kg); featherweight (57kg); lightweight (60kg); welterweight (64kg); light-middleweight (69kg); middleweight (75kg); light-heavyweight (81kg); heavyweight (91kg); super-heavyweight (91kg plus).