Highlights of the ASBC National Federations – Pakistan topped the medal table at the 2005 Asian Boxing Championships

The Asian Boxing Confederation introduces the best moments of its affiliated Asian National Federations launching a new PR campaign, the Highlights of the ASBC National Federations. Pakistan earned one Olympic medal in 1988, they had six titles in the boxing events of the Asian Games while the country topped the medal table at the Ho Chi Minh City 2005 Asian Boxing Championships.

Pakistan sent three boxers first to the London 1948 Olympic Games short after the country became independent from the United Kingdom. Pakistan’s boxers competed or qualified 13-times in the Olympic Games between 1948 and 2004. Pakistan’s Syed Hussain Shah achieved bronze medal at the Seoul 1988 Games which is their best Olympic performance. Five of their boxers qualified for the Athens 2004 Olympic Games but since then none of their athletes earned spots for the Beijing, London and Rio de Janeiro editions.

Pakistan earned altogether 6 gold, 19 silver and 36 bronze medals in the boxing history of the Asian Games which means the country is No.10 in the overall table. Pakistan sent boxers to the Tokyo 1958 Asian Games where Sultan Mahmoud and Khalid Mumtaz claimed silver medals in Japan’s capital. Pakistan’s duo Muhammad Safdar and Barkat Ali won their first Asian Games titles in the Bangkok 1962 edition.

Pakistan’s next Asian Games gold medals were achieved by Muhammad Iqbal (81kg) and Mahmoud Ymtaiz (+81kg) in Bangkok in 1978. Their Olympic bronze medallist Syed Hussain Shah won the title of the light middleweight (71kg) at the Beijing 1990 Asian Games. Lassi Meharullah bagged Pakistan’s sixth Asian Games gold following his unexpected success at the featherweight (57kg) in the Busan 2002 edition. Muhammad Waseem collected Pakistan’s last Asian Games medal was a bronze in the Incheon 2014 event.

The Commonwealth Games is also an important multisport event for Pakistan where their boxers achieved altogether one gold, three silver and four bronze medals. Samad Mir was their first medallist in the event who earned bronze in the Edinburgh 1970 Commonwealth Games. Arshad Hussain was their next bronze medallist in 1994 while Haider Ali won a historical gold medal for Pakistan at the featherweight (57kg) in 2002.

The first edition of the South Asian Games was held in Kathmandu in 1984 where Pakistan’s Asghar Ali, Ahmed Ilyas, Syed Hussain Shah and Muhammad Yousuf claimed four gold medals for the country. Pakistan’s capital, Islamabad hosted the South Asian Games twice in 1989 and in 2004 while the next edition will be held in Lahore in 2022. Pakistan bagged 10 out of the 12 available gold medals in the Islamabad 1989 South Asian Games which was their peak performance.

Pakistan topped the medal table at the Ho Chi Minh City 2005 Asian Boxing Championships as one of their highlights. Lassi Meharullah (57kg), Asghar Ali Shah (64kg) and Shoukat Ali (91kg) won their three gold medals in Vietnam. Since then, the Pakistani boxers reached the quarter-final stages of the Asian Boxing Championships but failed to get any medals.

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