Nine winners celebrated their titles in the new Lebanese National Championships

The Lebanese National Championships was held in their capital city and nine male champions have been crowned in the competition. Lebanon’s best hopes are mostly young talents in the U22 age group but the boxers have got the fighting spirit to show their skills internationally as well. Fadi Jaber, Ali Nabil Hachem and Mohammed Nassereddine were the top winners in the National Championships.

This is the return for their boxers to the national competitions after a long break due to the Covid-19 pandemic, the economic issues and the ecological disaster which affected the capital city one year ago. Despite of their hard circumstances, the Lebanese Boxing Federation is arranging events and programs for their boxers.

The second class boxers could compete in the national event which was the first competition for them since the 2019 edition. Altogether 36 boxers competed for the medals in nine different weight categories and eight clubs sent their athletes to the event. The Olympic Defense, the Tiger Club, the Military High Sport Centre, the General Security Club, the Al-Fajr Club, the Titanium Club and the Al-Bshara Club were also among the participating teams in the national event.

The first gold medal of the event was taken by Titanium Club’s Afif Wahbi at the lightweight (60kg) who defeated Mustafa Saad in the final. Mohammad Rahal was too strong for Omar Maksoud and took the title of the light welterweight (63.5kg). Sulaiman Balhas of Al-Bshara won the third title at the welterweight (67kg) following his success over Fadil Issa.

Olympic Defense’s Fadi Jaber won the light middleweight (71kg) with excellent performance and defeated Hussein Jashi in a remarkable final. His clubmate, Ali Nabil Hachem dominated his final against Ameen Shalhoub at the middleweight (75kg). Mohammed Nassereddine is also a soldier and earned his first national title in Lebanon after beating Wissam Issa. Zakaria Yaghi trains in the Military High Sport Centre and became the winner of the heavyweight (92kg) following Mohammed Mahdi Kataya’s success.

General Security Club’s Muhammad Zainuddine won the title of the super heavyweight (+91kg) but he remained in the second class level following the decision of the Executive Committee of the Lebanese Boxing Federation. All of the other winners moved into the first class and can compete in the next national event which will be held still this year.

Lebanon’s best boxers will be attending in the upcoming AIBA World Boxing Championships in Belgrade. The event will be starting with its first competition day on October 25 and among the Lebanese boxers Hassan Al-Zeino (71kg), Fadi Jaber (75kg), Ali Nabil Hachem (80kg), Mohammed Nassereddine (86kg) and Mohammad Mahdi Kataya (92kg) registered to attend.

List of the winners in the Lebanese 2nd Class National Championships
60kg: Afif Wahbi
63.5kg: Mohammad Rahal
67kg: Sulaiman Balhas
71kg: Fadi Jaber
75kg: Ali Nabil Hachem
80kg: Mohammed Nassereddine
86kg: Mohammed Mahdi Kataya
92kg: Zakaria Yaghi
+92kg: Muhammad Zainuddine

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