The Best achievements of the National Federations – Lebanon

The Best achievements of the National Federations is the new PR campaign of the Asian Boxing Confederation and the introduction of the Lebanon Boxing and their best results are the next in the series.

Lebanon sent one boxer to the London 1948 Olympic Games which was their first participation in the international stage of boxing. The country has sent also one boxer to the next Helsinki 1952 Olympic Games where Sarkiss Moussa competed at the light welterweight (63.5kg). Lebanon competed altogether in six editions of the Olympic Games, last time in the 1988 Seoul edition with three boxers.

Lebanon sent one boxer to the Beijing 1990 Asian Games where Nabil Masri lost his first preliminary contest against a Pakistani opponent. Lebanon returned to the boxing event of the Asian Games in 1998 where Bilal Masri (81kg) and Ali Abbas Mansour (+91kg) represented the country and both lost in the quarter-finals. Ali Abbas Mansour had a remarkable battle against Uzbekistan’s star Lazizbek Zokirov and he lost that quarter-final contest only by 10:7 points decision.

Ali Abbas Mansour competed in the next Busan 2002 Asian Games and he had another tight contest against India’s Harpal Singh in the first preliminary round of the super heavyweight (+91kg). Lebanon sent two boxers to the boxing event of the Doha 2006 Asian Games which was their last participation in that level.

Lebanon competed first at the 1980 edition of the Asian Boxing Championships in Bombay where two of their boxers reached the quarter-finals. Their first big success was achieved by Ali Abbas Mansour who claimed bronze medal in the Tashkent 1999 Asian Boxing Championships. He stopped Kuwait’s Abdulla Elklaaf in the quarter-finals and lost to only Uzbekistan’s eventual winner Rustam Saidov in the semi-final but his bronze medal was Lebanon’s first in their boxing history.

Lebanon returned to the Asian Boxing Championships with success in 2009 which edition was held in Zhuhai, China. Lebanon’s Najid Salloum defeated Mongolia’s Narmandakh Shinebayar in the quarter-finals of the middleweight (75kg) in the Zhuhai 2009 ASBC Asian Boxing Championships which guaranteed his nation’s second bronze medal after 1999. Salloum was defeated by Jordan’s Ayman Awad in a tight semi-final but the experienced boxer reached his career highlight in China.

Egypt’s Alexandria hosted the first Arab Games in 1953 where Lebanon achieved three silver and two bronze medals. Lebanon’s capital hosted the next 1957 Arab Games where their boxers earned one gold, five silver and three bronze medals. The title was taken by Saadeldin Dgheili at the heavyweight (+81kg) in Beyrouth who defended his throne four years later in the Casablanca 1961 edition.

Lebanon attended at the Bangkok 2018 ASBC Asian Confederation Youth Boxing Championships and the Fujairah 2019 ASBC Asian Junior Boxing Championships. Following their serious internal issues, and the Covid-19 pandemic, Lebanon returned to the international stage of boxing this year.

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