THE year 2007 proved yet another big nightmare for Pakistan boxing as the national pugilists failed to grab a single medal in the sport which otherwise regularly fetched medals for the country in the past.

It was sheer humiliation in the boxing ring for Pakistan who consistently won the medals at international level before Anwar Chowdhry was deposed as the International Amateur Boxing Association (AIBA) chief in 2006.

It was a horrendous start to 2007 for the Pakistan Boxing Federation (PBF) as national pugilists returned without any medal from Al-Fajr invitational tournament in Iran in February.

In April, the boxers returned empty-handed from King’s Cup in Bangkok followed by another ignominious show in Turkey where Pakistan failed to win a single medal at the Ahmed Comert tournament.

The situation presented a gloomy picture since all the three events were not major tournaments but simple invitational events in which Pakistan had always bagged top laurels.

The decline had started soon after the influential Chowdhry quit the scene. His seemingly iron-fisted 20-year rule as AIBA president was plagued by a string of corruption allegations and charge of manupilating results in Pakistan’s favour.

Pakistan had won no less than six medals including one gold, four silver and a bronze in 2002 Busan Asian Games and it was in the December 2006 Doha Asian Games — held a couple of months after Chowdhry’s defeat in the AIBA elections — that completely exposed the Pakistani boxers who failed to get a single medal in the important event.

Rustam Baloch, the coach of the Pakistan side which participated in Al-Fajr tournament, had conceded that it was Chowdhry’s presence in AIBA which brought medals earlier.

Chowdhry who never hesitated in imposing vindictive bans on his opponents — be it boxers or officials — was himself banned by the AIBA from holding any office with the international body on corruption charges.

But while Pakistan boxing has experienced a sharp decline in recent past, the Pakistani sports authorities however appeared least interested during the year to investigate the real reasons, not withstanding an ‘eyewash’ of an inquiry conducted by the Pakistan Sports Board (PSB) that proved nothing.

It was the Ministry of Sports which had asked the PSB to look into the charges and the then secretary, Ministry of Sports, Syed Bilal Ahmed, had clearly warned that ministry maintained zero tolerance for corruption.

Despite all that, Chowdhry continues to hold the PBF chairman’s post although he has kept a low profile by pushing the federation’s president Zaffar Zuberi into the front. That change encouraged some of the local officials to openly vent their frustration against the PBF policies and a Pandora’s box was opened.

A group of the Sindh Boxing Association (SBA) elected its new office-bearers without the blessing of the PBF which was forced to denounce it as an “illegal body” and to support another SBA group which held its polls a few days later.

Allegations and counter allegations were repeatedly made against each other by the senior PBF officials in the 2007, which brought a bad name to the sport in the country.

Zaffar faced embarrassment several times when PBF vice-president Shah Naeem Zafar confronted the federation on SBA elections issue, asking the president to “behave according to his stature.” The PBF was left red-faced when Naeem joined rebel SBA as chairman. The development was followed by threats to Naeem of expulsion from Zaffar for what PBF called joining “breakaway” SBA.

Undaunted, Naeem snubbed the president, challenging him he didn’t have powers to expel a vice-president, saying it was he who had promised for SBA elections but his silence forced the group to hold the polls without PBF backing.

As things stand today, none of the top national boxers are looking good enough to make a big impression at the international level while the concerned authorities have failed to initiate accountability process against the corrupt officials which only spells doom for Pakistan boxing.