GLASGOW: Pakistan’s boxers kicked off their Commonwealth Games campaigns in style as Afzal Khan and Fatima Zehra registered commanding victories at the SEC Centre in Glasgow on Friday.

Afzal delivered Pakistan’s first victory of the Games, outclassing Jovanie Bouzin of Seychelles in a one-sided 65kg bout.

The Pakistani orthodox produced a composed and clinical display to sweep all five judges’ scorecards, securing a unanimous decision and a place in the round-of-16.

Afzal began cautiously in the opening round, picking his shots with sharp, precise punching as the Seychellois fighter sought to impose himself with aggressive forward pressure.

Despite a balanced exchange of blows, four of the five ringside officials awarded the round to the Pakistani pugilist for his superior accuracy and cleaner connecting punches.

The 65kg fighter stepped up the tempo in the second session, closing the distance and pinning Bouzin against the ropes.

Bouzin briefly troubled his opponent with a straight right hand, but Afzal absorbed the shot without retreat, maintaining his composure in the clinches and landing the more telling blows. All five judges scored the round in favour of the Pakistani.

Trailing by two rounds, Bouzin came out swinging wildly in the third and final period. Afzal, however, showcased deft head movement to evade the danger, growing in confidence as the contest wore on.

He punctuated his dominance with a crisp left hook to Bouzin’s chin, forcing the referee to administer a standing count for a knockdown.

Pakistan’s boxing success continued in the women’s 50kg category, where Fatima produced a dominant display against Realeboha Segoete of Lesotho to cruise into the quarter-finals.

The 22-year-old Pakistani kno­cked her opponent down three times across two rounds before the referee intervened to halt the contest.

Fatima scored her first knockdown in the opening round, controlling the ring throughout, though she could not land the finishing blow.

She nevertheless took the round on all five judges’ scorecards. The second round proved decisive as Fatima struck early with another knockdown and then added a third at the 2:35 mark, forcing the referee to step in and hand the Pakistani a emphatic triumph.

Elsewhere in the Games, Pakist­an’s swimmers failed to make an impact.

Jehanara Nabi won her heat of the women’s 50m butterfly in 29.99 seconds — well off the 27.56 that secured the final qualification spot — but her time left her 40th overall among 52 swimmers, well outside the top-16 cut for the semi-finals.

The men’s 200m individual medley saw Ahmad Durrani finish 17th overall among 22 entrants with a time of 2:09.79 in the heats, falling well short of the top-eight qualification mark for the final.

In lawn bowls, Ayub Qureshi suffered a defeat in his men’s singles opener, going down 2-0 to Ross Owen of Wales. Owen dominated the two ends, taking the first 12-5 and completing a whitewash with a crushing 17-0 victory in the second.

Published in Dawn, July 25th, 2026