LAHORE: National boxers will begin training at the Army Sports Complex Rawalpindi from June 1 to prepare for the Commonwealth Games to be held from July 28 to August 8 in Birmingham, United Kingdom. The Pakistan Boxing Federation (PBF) has invited 18 boxers to the camp which will be held at a zone perceived to be a bit safe if there is again any long march from the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI). “Yes, we have invited 18 boxers for the camp. The training place of the Army Sports Complex Rawalpindi is safe and sound. The players accommodation is also inside the complex and there will be no issue if a long march is held again,” a PBF spokesman said on Sunday. After a couple of months training at the same venue national pugilists then spent a few days with their respective units to prepare for the Inter-departmental Championship which concluded at Lahore the other day.
The PBF also finalised three names for the Commonwealth Games on the basis of the results of the event and the fate of two more boxers is yet to be decided. The PBF has requested the Pakistan Olympic Association (POA) to manage accreditation cards for a couple of boxers Nazeerullah and Suleman Baloch who won golds in their respective weights in the national event. These two boxers were not in the probables list for the Commonwealth Games and so their accreditation cards had not been prepared.
“Yes, the POA had interacted with the organisers of the Commonwealth Games and they have asked for details of these two boxers for accreditation purposes. We will be sending details today and hopefully they will be issued accreditation cards,” the spokesman said. He said that on Saturday the PBF also contacted boxing federations of Iran and Turkey regarding Pakistan’s foreign training tour ahead of the Commonwealth Games. “We are working hard and today too we contacted Iran and Turkey and hopefully we will be able to finalise a deal with any country where we will send our top fighters who are preparing for the Commonwealth Games,” he added. As many as four male and one female boxer Mehreen Baloch will be part of Pakistan’s boxing squad for the Commonwealth Games. Zohaib Rasheed and Mohammad Ilyas Hussain are the others who have been finalised for the quadrennial event. They will be joined by Suleman Baloch and Nazeerullah if they are issued accreditation cards by the organisers.