Nineteen female and male boxers celebrated their titles in the Pakistan National Championships

The 38th Pakistan Men’s Elite National Championships and the 2nd Women’s Elite National Championships were held together in the city of Lahore. 26 women and 137 men boxers competed for the medals in the new edition of the Pakistan National Championships where Sindh’s Maria and Zakir Hussain were named as best boxers.

The men’s elite boxers could compete in all of the thirteen official weight classes, while the women’s boxers fought for six titles in the Pakistan National Championships. The country returned to the national events after two years of break but all of their top boxers attended in the competition. The best female and male boxers received cash money prizes for their excellent performance in Lahore.

Pakistan competed with one boxer at the AIBA Men’s Elite World Boxing Championships in Belgrade, Serbia and sent also a team to the CISM Military World Boxing Championships which took place in Moscow, Russia earlier in September.

Pakistan is focusing to the Commonwealth Games and the Asian Games in 2022 besides to the ASBC Asian Boxing Championships. The new edition of the Pakistan National Championships was one of the most important selection events. Mr. Arshad Hussain, the head coach of the national team selected 18 women and 40 men boxers for future training camps and international events.

Teams from the Army, Navy, Pakistan Air Force, WAPDA, Railways, KPT, KESC, Baluchistan, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Punjab, Sindh, Islamabad, AJ&K, Gilgit-Baltistan, Police and HEC competed in the Pakistan National Championships. Boxers who were born between 1981 and 2002 were eligible to attend in the National Championships.

Sindh’s Maria had a tough draw in the women’s minimumweight (48kg) but she managed to win the title of the category against more experienced rivals as Rabia Batool. Gul Jabeen and Nada Zareen defeated their final opponents as Rimsha and Saher and won their first big national titles in Pakistan.

National Games winner Mehreen Baloch achieved bronze medal in the 2019 South Asian Games and she proved against Shehwana Kiran that she is the No.1 at the women’s featherweight (57kg). National Games bronze medallist Fatima Zahra moved up to the lightweight (60kg) but she managed to win her final over Komal Ikhlaq. Moazzama became the sixth female winner of the National Championships after beating Hafsa in the final.

Navy’s Zohaib Rasheed was bronze medallist in the 2019 National Games but the 21-year-old boxer prepared well against Jahanzaib Khan and he won their re-match in the final of the minimumweight (48kg). Syed Muhammad Asif dominated the flyweight (51kg) in the recent years and Atta Ullah was their No.2 in this category. In the absence of their previous No.1, Atta Ullah defeated Navy’s Muhammad Daud Khan in the final.

Army’s Zakir Hussain had four contests at the bantamweight (54kg) but he managed to beat all of his rivals including Muhammad Qasim in the final. Army’s Ilyas Hussain earned bronze medal in the 2019 National Games but this time he defeated his main rivals including international level boxers as Niamat Ullah and Naqeeb Ullah taking the gold medal at the featherweight (57kg) in Lahore.

Wapda’s National Games winner Mohib Ullah had enough experiences to control all of his contests in Lahore and he was too strong for all of his four rivals. Pakistan Wapda’s next gold medal was taken by Naqeeb Ullah who outpointed Army’s Abdul Jalil in the final of the light welterweight (63.5kg). Commonwealth Games competitor 24-year-old Suleman Baloch moved up to the welterweight (67kg) but his main rivals as Qadir Khan and Ali Ahmed were not able to stop him.

Gul Zaib claimed silver medal in the last edition of the South Asian Games and won the new light middleweight (71kg) after beating experienced Amir Khan in the final. Army’s Saif-Ul Manan defended his throne at the middleweight (75kg) and defeated Navy’s Tanveer Ahmed and Mohib Ullah among the experienced boxers. CISM Military World Boxing Championships competitor Bilawal Zia and Nazeer Ullah won their first national titles.

Wapda’s Mehmood Sanaullah competed in Asian Games, ASBC Asian Elite Boxing Championships, earned silver at the South Asian Games and he is one of the most experienced Pakistani boxers. The 28-year-old heavyweight (92kg) boxer knocked out Majid Ali in the final and delivered excellent performance in Lahore. The last male gold medal was achieved by Mehmood-Ul-Hasan who used his international experiences to beat Tariq Nawaz in the final of the super heavyweight (+92kg).

List of the winners in the Pakistan National Championships
Women’s 48kg: Maria
Women’s 52kg: Gul Jabeen
Women’s 54kg: Nada Zareen
Women’s 57kg: Mehreen Baloch
Women’s 60kg: Fatima Zahra
Women’s 63kg: Moazzama
Men’s 48kg: Zohaib Rasheed
Men’s 51kg: Atta Ullah
Men’s 54kg: Zakir Hussain
Men’s 57kg: Ilyas Hussain
Men’s 60kg: Mohib Ullah
Men’s 63.5kg: Naqeeb Ullah
Men’s 67kg: Suleiman Baloch
Men’s 71kg: Gul Zaib
Men’s 75kg: Saif-Ul Manan
Men’s 80kg: Bilawal Zia
Men’s 86kg: Nazeer Ullah
Men’s 92kg: Mehmood Sanaullah
Men’s +92kg: Mehmood-Ul-Hasan

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