Daily Times

KARACHI: With less than a month left for the crucial Olympic qualifiers, which present Pakistan with the final opportunity to lay their claim for an Olympic berth in Rio de Janeiro, the Pakistan Boxing Federation (PBF) has still not started the training camp for the event in Azerbaijan. The PBF has intimated that the camp will start from May 10 in Islamabad. The final round of the Olympic qualifiers will take place in Baku, Azerbaijan from June 7, where top boxers from around the world will compete for the remaining spots in the Olympics main round featuring 250 pugilists.

According to Pakistan Boxing Federation (PBF) coach Ali Baksh, the camp would be aimed at getting the boxers to the final of the weight categories they are participating in. Baksh further revealed that the team would see few changes compared to the one that was announced for the Asian Olympic qualifying tournament that took place in March, which Pakistan missed out on due to differences between the PBF and Pakistan Sports Board officials.

The tussle left 10 boxers stranded in Karachi as they were told that they would not fly out to China to compete just hours before their flight. “This round will be the toughest. We still had the chance in the Asian qualifying round which only featured continental boxers, but this is about athletes coming from all over the world,” said Baksh. “We will have changes in the squad of course. It will not be the same as we had chosen for China in March.”