KARACHI, May 14: Lightweight Karrar Hussain led the Karachi Port Trust (KPT) onslaught with an impressive victory over KESC’s Mohammad Asif to storm into national junior boxing championship finals along with four team-mates on Saturday.

Although Asif enjoyed height advantage, Karrar, an Asian junior bronze medallist, proved too hot for KESC boxer to handle from the first round. The fight did not go beyond second round as Karrar scored points at will and outclassed the rival by winning the bout on RSC verdict.

While Army’s four boxers reached final, boxing powerhouse KPT were closely followed by KESC whose three pugilists boxed their way into the finals, thanks to a hard-fought, narrow 56-51 triumph by dextrous flyweight Aneel Hussain over Liaquat Ali of Wapda.

While KPT ended up as the dominating side as expected, Aneel-Liaquat was the most absorbing bout of the day which started with Aneel taking advantage of his better reach and trying to break Liaquat’s effective guard.

The second round saw accurate blows from Aneel that resulted in Liaquat’s bloody nose which had to be wiped off by referee midway which kept the Wapda boxer under immense pressure during the round.

Liaquat, however, showed resilience against the lanky Aneel and exchanged some strong blows in the third round, but Aneel was slightly better than his opponent and won on points’ average as the two boxers were tied at 14-14 after the fight.

In another close fight, flyweight Mohammad Ali of KPT outboxed Pakistan Army’s Abid Hussain 21-19.

While Ali was better in the opening round, both were bit cautious in the following round before Abid tried to stage a comeback in the third. Ali emerged victor after a better display in the final round which gave him a close win.

KPT’s bantamweight Ali Mohammad was no match for hapless Waqas Khan of NWFP who received eight mandatory counts in the first round after a series of blows.

Ali Mohammad, who lost in Asian cadet championship quarterfinals, finished off quickly with a swinging blow which forced the referee to stop the fight to save Waqas from sever injury.

Like his team-mates, welterweight Jan Mohammad of KPT, too did not face any resistance in reaching the final as he thrashed NWFP’s Ehtesham who lost the fight after RSC decision because of a head injury in the opening round.

q Middleweight Dur Mohammad of KPT also had smooth sailing with Army’s Asad Abbas retiring in the second round.

Light-flyweight Khaliq Mahmood, bantamweight Bilal Ghazi, welterweight Samiullah and light-heavyweight Yasir Jawaid were Army’s four boxers who marched into the finals with outright victories.

Zubair, a KESC’s light-flyweight, who scored an upset quarterfinal win against KPT’s Mohammad Nisar on Friday, continued his victory march, this time outpunching Sindh’s Jibran Muna 11-8.

Featherweight Rauf was KESC’s third pugilist to move ahead with a 19-10 triumph over Sheeraz of KPT.

. Results (semifinals):