KARACHI, Sept 29: Fifteen teams, including two teams from Pakistan, will participate in the third Green Hill Cup boxing tournament to be organized here from Oct 8 to 13.

The participants who have confirmed their participation are Russia, Hungary, Thailand, China, Turkey, Japan, Azerbaijan, Sri Lanka, Turkmensitan, North Korea, Afghanistan, Malaysia and Kuwait.

“We are expecting three more teams to arrive here,” a PBF spokesman told a press conference on Monday.

The competitions will be held in 48kg, 51kg, 54kg, 57kg, 60kg, 64kg, 69kg, 75kg, 81kg, 91kg and above 91kg.

Russia, Thailand, Hungary are sending their best boxers who had won gold in the Sydney Olympic Games the official said and added the tournament would help Pakistan coach Reinaldo to identify the best boxers for the forthcoming qualifying round for the Athens Olympic Games.

The first Olympic qualifying round will be held in Manila from Jan 11-18 followed by second round in China from March 15-18, while Pakistan will host the third round in the last week of April in Karachi.

An estimated budget of Rs2.5 million to Rs2.7 million would be required for the forthcoming event.

“We had invited five boxers from each country but since the Olympic qualifying rounds are scheduled to begin early next year many countries are bringing more boxers than their limit,” the official said.—PPI