Spotlight on Afghanistan’s historic medallist in Astana – Qais Alizada
Afghanistan reached a fantastic and historic result at the recent ASBC Asian U22 & Youth Boxing Championships in Astana, Kazakhstan. Their Qais Alizada not only reached a medal but he advanced to the finals of the light heavyweight (80kg) in the U22 part of the outstanding championship.
Qais Alizada became the first boxer from Afghanistan who joined to a final bout in any of the Asian Boxing Championships since 1995 when Muhammad Aman claimed a silver medal for the developing country in Tashkent, Uzbekistan.
Their new sensation, Qais Alizada started his sports career at the age of five in 2007 where his very first trainer was his oldest brother. He was 7 year-old when he got his membership in a martial arts Gym.
He practiced several martial arts martial arts but from 2015, he started focusing only on boxing but he was struggling to find a good boxing coach in the Helmand province. He moved to Kabul in 2019 and he started training in Omid-e-Maiwand boxing gym with coach Mr. Mohammad Askar Rahimi.
He started competing in provincial and national level in 2019 and he made his strong breakthrough in 2020 when he won the Youth National Championship and became a member of Afghan national boxing team. After the fall of previous Afghan government he fled Afghanistan with his family and resettled in Colorado Springs, in the United States.
As soon as he arrived in the United States, he continued to pursue his boxing career and he started training in Triple Thread Gym with coach Mr. Charles Leverette who competed in several US National Championships as a boxer between 2000 and 2004. He continued to compete in the United States and he won multiple state and national tournaments including the USA Golden Gloves.
He was eventually lucky enough to connect with Mr. Waheedullah Hameedi, the Secretary General of the Afghan Boxing Federation to set him up for competitions for his motherland Afghanistan. Following his 20-2 boxing record, he was selected to compete at the ASBC Asian U22 Boxing Championships in Astana.
Qais Alizada maintained the best fighting range in the first minute and one of his quick hooks were almost finished his semi-final bout against India’s Dhruv Singh in Astana. The more experienced Indian was on the floor but he survived his dangerous moments and he could continue the contest. Alizada amazed once again in the third round and his extraordinary performance delivered for him a place in the finals where Kazakhstan’s Yerassyl Zhakpekov defeated him but this is Afghanistan’s best result in an Asian Championships since 1995.
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