KARACHI, May 12: Pakistan doubled their delight when they scooped up three golds after booking places for Olympics at the third qualifying boxing tournament on Wednesday.

Sohail Baloch, Faisal Kareem and Ahmad Ali Khan, who have already qualified for the Athens Games in August by reaching the finals on Tuesday, secured golds for the hosts.

The trio joined their compatriots light-flyweight Noman Kareem, bantamweight Meherullah and lightweight Asghar Ali Shah - the three Pakistanis who have also booked their berths for the Games in qualifiers in China and Philippines earlier.

Sohail snapped a featherweight gold for Pakistan in style with an outright victory over Kyrgyzstan's Asylbex Talasbaev after a RSC/OS verdict in the third round at KPT Sports Complex.

"I am happy to win the medal as I was working hard for this tournament for a long time. But I think Olympics will be very tough and harder training is needed. The Pakistan Boxing Federation is expected to arrange a training tour for the Olympics," Sohail said after the bout.

The 19-year-old, however, lamented he was waiting to be absorbed as regular employee by Wapda where he had been working in grade 9 for last three years on contractual basis.

"I have been associated with Wapda for the last three years but my job is yet to be regularised. I will quit Wapda and may join PAF or KESC who have offered me a permanent job," the gold medallist said.

It was easy sailing for Sohail as he started hammering Talasbaev from the first round and kept on pounding the Kyrgyz in the second round with powerful punches. Sohail came with all guns blazing in the third round to thrash hapless Talasbaev, forcing the referee to give Kyrgyz eight mandatory counts.

Talasbaev was finally saved from telling blows from Sohail when the referee stopped the fight because of over scoring in the third round, Pakistani leading 32-12. Ahmad Ali Khan pocketed the middleweight gold after a 42-32 victory over Thailand's Suriya Pasathi Nphimai.

The Pakistani found it hard to reach the target in the first round, although he had an advantage of being taller than his rival. Nphimai fought back although Ahmad eventually started utilising his better reach in the second round. The local pugilist gained most of the points in the third when he came all out against the Thai with quite a few point-scoring punches.

The third round was the most hotly-contested one, since both boxers were aggressive with Ahmad having an upper hand after some ferocious jabs. Ahmad, though, tried to maintain his rhythm in the final round but was weary and mostly missed the target, punching in the air.

Surprisingly, South Korea's Cho Deok Jin, who was disqualified against Ahmad in semifinals, was awarded the bronze medal in violation of International Boxing Association (AIBA) rules.

Light-welterweight Faisal notched up a 33-13 triumph against India's Vijender Singh despite a shaky start as the fight did not seem to be high-scoring encounter.

Like Tuesday's semifinal clash against South Korea's Yang Hyun Tae which he won 16-12, Faisal was again seen escaping from Vijender's punches by bowing his head in the first round.

Faisal finally broke through Indian's guard after a minute into second round to score few points against his taller rival who was making maximum use of his reach. After a comparatively inactive third round, cautious Vijender somewhat prevailed over home pugilist in the fourth round, but Faisal came back again and succeeded in breaking Vijender's defence with a combination of right and left.

Kazakhstan got two golds with Artayev Bakhtiyar, the best boxer of the tournament, defeating S. Karimi Ahmedabad of Iran on RSC/OS decision, while another Kazakh flyweight Rakhim Zhanov beat B. Yusak Saweho of Indonesia 31-22.

The contest was the third and last regional qualifying round for the Olympics and 18 finalists in nine weight categories qualified for the Games.

Results (finals):