KARACHI, May 10: Sindh sustained their domination yet on Saturday with two more local boxers reaching the finals in the inaugural national cadet boxing championship at Ali Mohammad Qambrani Boxing Stadium.
Altogether seven pugilists from Sindh have reached the finals followed by four from Karachi Port Trust (KPT), two from Punjab and one from Wapda.
In 54kg semifinals, Sindh’s Rizwan Tanoli outpointed Balochistan’s Murtaza 6-2, while Wali Mohammad Qambrani of KPT was awarded a walkover against Pakistan Army’s Tariq Mahmood.
Although Wali had lost to Punjab’s Mohammad Kashif in the quarterfinal on Friday, he was allowed to fight in the semifinal after jury disqualified Kashif following a protest from KPT earlier.
KPT had officially protested that Kashif was over-age as he had already participated in the senior category of the Prof Anwar Chowdhry tournament held in Peshawar last month.
“The protest submitted by the KPT has been accepted and the Punjab boxer, who is slightly over-age, has been disqualified from the tournament,” said Mohammad Akram Khan, the secretary of the organizing committee.
The three-day contest being organized by the Pakistan Amateur Boxing Federation (PABF) for the first time, allows only those boxers to take part who are in the age group of 15 to 17 years.
Sindh’s Abdul Rauf overcame a spirited Mohammad Idrees of Balochistan 9-5, and Wapda’s Mohammad Shoaib outpunched Azam 9-1 in the 60kg semifinals.
Sunday’s programme:
46kg: Zeeshan Saleem Butt (Punjab) v Jibran Munna (Sindh)
48kg: Mohammad Nisar (Sindh) v Sanaullah (KPT)
50kg: Shahbaz Akhtar (KPT) v Mohammad Ali (Sindh)
52kg: Mohammad Iqbal (KPT) v Ali Mohammad (Sindh)
54kg: Rizwan Tanoli (Sindh) v Wali Mohammad Qambrani (KPT)
57kg: Zeeshan Shahid (Punjab) v Karrar Hussain (Sindh)