KARACHI, May 11: Sindh boxers set the ring alight scooping up five gold and two silver medals to become the champions of the inaugural national cadet boxing championship here at Ali Mohammad Qambrani Boxing Stadium on Sunday.

Karachi Port Trust (KPT) settled for runners-up spot with a gold, three silvers and a bronze to be followed by Punjab who claimed one gold, silver and bronze.

Punjab’s Zeeshan Saleem Butt was adjudged the best boxer of the championship, while Mohammad Ali of Sindh was declared the prospective boxer.

Although most of the fights were one-sided affair, it was 57kg final which could be well said the bout of the day which saw both the boxers sweating for each and every point.

Karrar Hussain of Sindh won the bout by a slim margin of 14- 13, but it was not a disgrace to Punjab’s Zeeshan Shahid who made his opponent fight hard for every point.

Karrar, who seemed to be prevailing over his tall but frail looking rival in the first round, broke sweat in the second when Zeeshan Shahid used his better reach to score some vital points.

It was in the third round that both fought ferociously, unleashing a flurry of lightning hooks and upper cuts against each other amid loud cheers from packed-to-capacity vociferous crowd.

The neck-and-neck battle finally ended in Karrar’s favour who was definitely superior as compared to Zeeshan with a better technique and footwork.

The local crowd was again disappointed when Sindh’s Jibran Munna lost to Zeeshan Saleem of Punjab 12-10 in 46kg bout after an entertaining skirmish.

Zeeshan was, however, at ease in the first round enjoying better height advantage. Jibran encountered the Punjab boxer fighting from close range, but lost despite some fine display of boxing in the final round.

Sanaullah of KPT could not perform what his fans were expecting from him against Mohammad Nisar of Sindh in the 48kg encounter.

After a cautious start, Sanaullah was seen receiving eight mandatory counts following a combination of right and left from aggressive Nisar.

Sanaullah, a younger brother of Asian Games gold medallist Meherullah, blew whatever chances he had when he was warned by referee for blocking Nisar who won 11-3.

Results (finals):

46kg: Zeeshan Saleem Butt (Punjab) bt Jibran Munna (Sindh) 12- 10; Mohammad Raza (Balochistan) (bronze).

48kg: Mohammad Nisar (Sindh) bt Sanaullah (KPT) 11-3; Adeeb Asghar (Punjab) (bronze).

50kg: Mohammad Ali (Sindh) bt Shahbaz Akhtar (KPT) RSC/OC/II; Abdul Wahab (Balochistan) (bronze).

52kg: Ali Mohammad (Sindh) bt Mohammad Iqbal (Punjab) 13-1.

54kg: Wali Mohammad Qambrani (KPT) bt Rizwan Tanoli (Sindh) 10-2; Murtaza (Balochistan) (bronze).

57kg: Karrar Hussain (Sindh) bt Zeeshan Shahid (Punjab) 14-13.

60kg: Abdul Rauf (Sindh) bt Mohammad Shoaib (Wapda) 4-1; Azam (KPT) and Mohammad Idrees (Balochistan) (bronze).