Mr. Abdullah Sattari – The biggest strength is our high number of boxers and fans in Afghanistan

Mr. Abdullah Sattari is the President of the Afghanistan Boxing Federation who was born in Kabul and graduated in the Kabul University short after his successful boxing career in 2005. The President of the Afghanistan Boxing Federation shared with us his thoughts about his country’s future potential, cooperations and strategic plans.
Mr. Abdullah Sattari began his career at of age of 16 and competed in several international events including the Busan 2002 Asian Games. Following his General Secretary and CEO experiences, he was elected as President of the Afghanistan Boxing Federation in 2015 for a period of four years.

– Could you please introduce your country’s boxing life?
– We have great boxing fans in Afghanistan as there are a lot of boxers all over the country not only in Kabul but in countryside as well. Afghanistan has got also history in boxing, our best result was a fantastic silver medal in the 1995 Asian Boxing Championships and we had Olympians in the recent editions.
Our elite men team competed in the ASBC Asian Confederation Boxing Championships in Tashkent, Uzbekistan this year. We will be sending our boxers to Rohtak, India to train there in October where the possibilities are the bests in our region. We will be holding a 1-star R&J Course in Kabul on November 5 which is a great step in our boxing life. Meeting with the US boxing team will be also important for our youngsters. We have been cooperating with the neighbouring countries and especially with the Indian Boxing Federation’s President Mr. Ajay Singh.

– Would you like to tell us your strategic plans for the future and the key developments in your country?
– Afghanistan Boxing Federation simply tries to be more professional than ever and we are developing all aspects of boxing. We are building up boxing talents from the grassroots now to be more competitive in the upcoming years.
We are thinking about to invite a great foreign coach to Afghanistan to manage our elite boxers but it depends on the financial availabilities. Developing the ability of the Afghan coaches and Referees & Judges are also among our key points. Opening a new Boxing Academy in Afghanistan is also among our plans in the near future.
Cooperation with neighbouring countries have already started to give chance to our boxers to raise their international experiences. Finding Afghanistan’s refugee boxers and the Afghan people who are living abroad is also among our strategies. The NSB Boxing League will be starting in 2018 while the South Asian Junior Championships will be held in our capital city in Kabul next June.

– What are the main strengths and issues in your boxing life?
– We are faced with a lot of financial issues but we are doing all of our best to solve these problems in Afghanistan. The number of the boxers and our boxing fans are our biggest strength in Afghanistan and we know that our hard work will deliver a success in the upcoming years.