Two-day women boxing championship opens in Karachi

KARACHI: Aiming to make a mark in boxing rings, 47 boxers from various parts of Karachi — aged 14 to 20 — are participating in a two-day Karachi women boxing championship.

The event has been organised by Sindh Boxing Association in collaboration with Karachi's District Municipal Corporation South. Boxers from Karachi’s South, West and Central districts are participating in the event.

On the opening day of the championship, 15 bouts were held in which enthusiastic female boxers displayed their fierce power, skill and passion to achieve something.

“This championship is the first step for them to achieve their dreams to do something for the country,” said Asif Azeem, the organiser of the championship.

And, what the dream is for these girls?

“To win medals for Pakistan in all international events,” responded the girls.

“We can be like Laila Ali, Marry Kom or any other top boxer. If they can do it, why can’t we?” said a boxer participating in the tournament.

Boxing was once one of the quickly growing sports in Pakistan but in the last few years, the sport has faced decline due to lack of interest and usual-politics at the helm of affairs in the Boxing Federation.

Pakistan introduced female boxing in 2015 and Razia Banu emerged as first female boxing star from Pakistan.

“It is good to see girls getting interested in boxing, it is not just a sport but can also help them in self-defense. They have role models in the likes of Mehreen and Razia who’ve made the country proud,” said Asghar Baloch, the vice president of the Pakistan Boxing Federation and a renowned boxing organiser.

“We have around 100 girls in our pool at this moment but we are making all efforts to increase this number as our target is to have at least 1,000 girls playing this sport. In Karachi, Liyari has a good number of boxers and there are girls from Balochistan and other parts of the country coming forward as well,” he said.

Asghar added that championships at the grass root level will help not only in improving the standard of the game but also in promoting the game of boxing among the masses.