KARACHI, May 7: Organizers of the third Olympic boxing qualifying tournament said on Friday bomb blast in the city would not affect the competition.

"The tournament will not be called off. We can't call off an important tournament like this," organizing secretary Shakeel Durrani said.

The official said the bouts started nearly an hour late because the paramilitary Rangers asked teams to return due to traffic jams and security reasons. "The teams were on their way to the venue but Rangers asked us to return the boxers to their hotel as they wanted to have clearance and instructions from headquarters after the incident," he said.

Indian manager Asit Banerjee said he was concerned for the safety of his boxers and was scared after he heard about the bomb explosion. "We were returned by the security men when we were going to the venue. We asked somebody from the officials when we will depart for venue and were surprised that all the teams had gone except us.

"We later came to venue in (Anwar) Chowdhry's private car. We even heard an official that tournament is being called off. But we have no intention of going back because of this explosion," he said.

Like the Indians, other participating team officials including Malaysia and Philippines also expressed fear after the blast but added they won't return to their countries before the end of the tournament.

"We are indeed concerned about our boxers' safety. But we can't leave for our country as we are here to participate in the important event like this," said Malaysia manager Haji Mohammad Haron Ismail.

Philippines manager Gerardo Ramos was also concerned about the security situation but added he had no plans to travel back to home. "By watching BBC and reading newspapers, we were expecting this kind of situation.

We are definitely worried about the situation. But we are here with one goal that is to win a gold and qualify for the Olympics. We expect the Pakistani government will control the situation," the official said.