QUETTA, June 16: Olympian boxer Syed Abrar Hussain was gunned down by unknown men near the Ayub Stadium here on Thursday.

The banned Lashkar-i-Jhangvi has claimed responsibility for killing the 50-year-old boxer, who was deputy director of the Pakistan Sports Board in Balochistan.

According to police, Hussain was going home from his office at the stadium when he came under the attack. The assailants intercepted his car near the main gate of the stadium and opened fire on him. Hussain was seriously injured and taken to the Combined Military Hospital, where he died.

DIG Operation Hamid Shakeel told Dawn that the gunmen riding two motorcycles fired a volley of bullets at the car. One bullet hit the boxer’s head. Abrar Hussain represented Pakistan three times at the Olympics — in 1984, 1988 and 1992 — and won a gold medal at the 1990 Asian Games in Beijing. He also took part in many other international competitions, including second and fourth editions of the South Asian Games.

The government had bestowed on Hussain the Sitara-i-Imtiaz and the Pride of Performance in recognition of his services in sports.

A large number of people belonging to the Hazara community held a rally and demanded arrest of the killers.

His body was taken to his home in a procession. His funeral was attended by a large number of people. He was buried in Hazara graveyard.

“It appears to be a sectarian killing,” a senior police officer said, adding that police had registered a case against unknown people and started investigation. No arrest has been made.

Talking to journalists from an unknown place, Lashkar-i-Jhangvi spokesman Ali Sher Haideri said that men of his organisation had killed the boxer.

Balochistan Governor Nawab Zulfiqar Ali Magsi and Chief Minister Nawab Aslam Raisani condemned the killing and ordered police high-ups to arrest the attackers.