KARACHI: The dreams of Pakistan’s boxers to qualify for this year’s Olympics in Rio de Janeiro came crashing down last week in the Azeri capital of Baku when five hopefuls lost their matches in the final qualifying round for the Games.

Boxers Syed Mohammad Asif (52kg), Niamatullah (56kg), Ahmed Ali (60kg), Tanveer Ahmed and Awais Ali Khan took part in the World Olympic Qualification Event and lost their respective matches in the first round.

With no wildcards on offer, the losses in Azerbaijan effectively ended Pakistan’s hopes of fielding boxers at the quadrennial multi-sport extravaganza.

“All the five boxers were determined and tried very hard. It’s very unlucky for them that they failed to qualify for an event as important as the Olympics,” Pakistan Boxing Federation (PBF) secretary Iqbal Hussain told Dawn on Thursday.

Read: Amir Khan willing to represent Pakistan at Rio Olympics

Hussain believed that it was the lack of international training tours that kept the boxers away from precious experience which would have helped them gain crucial exposure ahead of qualifying rounds for the Games.

“Indian Olympians from different disciplines have been training with some of the world’s best athletes since the last six months,” said Hussain.

“These training tours are a major part of preparation for the Olympics,” he added.

Hussain took the responsibility for Pakistan’s failure in the boxing arena but also mentioned an important reason for the continuous downfall.

“Before the London Olympics in 2012, the government of Pakistan allotted a budget of Rs30 million for the preparation for the qualifying event,” he revealed. “This time around it wasn’t even Rs300,000.”

Read: SAG 2016: Pakistan’s first women boxers determined to land big punch

When asked about the government’s part in the fall of Pakistan boxing, Hussain said sarcastically: “No one can say anything to the government — they’re kings.”

This year’s Olympics will see the smallest contingent from Pakistan taking part after the hockey team — three-time Olympic champions — failed to make the cut for the first time in history.

The boxers were expected to increase the number of athletes from the country but Pakistan will now only have seven participants at the Games.

They include two swimmers, Lianna Swan and Haris Bandey, two shooters, Ghulam Mustafa and Minhal Sohail, Japan-based judoka Shah Hussain and two yet-to-be-confirmed athletes.

Published in Dawn, June 24th, 2016