LAHORE: The Pakis­tan Boxing Federation (PBF) announced on Monday its nine-member squad for the 17th Asian Games being held from Sept 19 in Incheon, South Korea.

“The party [for the Asian Games] comprises six boxers and three officials,” said PBF secretary Iqbal Hussain while talking to APP from London.

He said one change had been made in the squad which participated in the recently-held Glasgow Commonwealth Games where Moham­mad Wasim won silver medal (in 52kg category) for Pakistan.

Sanaullah is the new edition to the squad as the PBF dropped Moham­mad Asif.

In Incheon, Wasim (52kg) will lead the side whose other members are Mohibullah (49kg), Nadir Baloch (56kg), Ali Ahmed (60kg), Amir Khan (64kg) and Sana­ullah (91kg).

The team officials are Allah Bukhsh and Moham­mad Tariq. Iqbal Hussain will be accompanying the team as manager.

According to Iqbal, Sanaullah will be competing in the heavyweight category and has been preferred over Asif who featured in the Glasgow Games (69kg class) but failed to impress.

“In the Asian Games, we have better medal prospects in the heavyweight categories and that is why we have inclu­ded Sanaullah,” added Iqbal.

He hoped that Pakistan team would be able to win medals in Incheon as the team members were in good touch after their participation in the Commonwealth Games.

“Featuring in the Glasgow Games was a beneficial experience for our boxers. For Asiad, we have planned a comprehensive training programme for our boxers,” he said.

“Apart from having a routine training camp at home, we hope we will be able to engage the [Incheon-bound] team members in a month-long camp, hopefully abroad.”

Iqbal disclosed that the PBF had turned down the financial assistance offer — amounting to Rs9 million — from Pakistani business community based in Glasgow for training of the Pakistani boxers.

“We have declined this offer, primarily in the respect of our country as we are capable of generating funds for the preparation and participation of the team in international tournaments abroad,” the PBF secretary stated.

“I told the Pakistani community to just pray for our boxers as it will be the biggest gift for them,” said the PBF official.

“The Pakistan Sports Board has assured us its all-out support as far as the preparation of the team for the Asian Games is concerned.”

Published in Dawn, Aug 12th, 2014