While China muster 29 points, Pakistan Whites finish at third and Greens at a poor sixth in Benazir international boxing. Light-flyweight Mohib Bacha of Pakistan Whites wins the solitary gold for the hosts.-File photo by AFP
KARACHI While Pakistan suffered humiliation bagging only one gold, boxing powerhouses China were crowned the champions at Benazir international boxing tournament after accumulating 29 points, clinching four gold, a silver and two bronze medals at KPT Sports Complex on Friday.

 

The Chinese showed their boxing prowess when Yong Deng, Fanlong Meng, Xuan Bao and Heshuai Li grabbed the gold, while Sile Hu settled for the silver.

 

Having four pugilists in the finals, Pakistan, who had entered 22 boxers and were expecting no less than three golds, won the light-flyweight gold through Mohib Bacha of Pakistan Whites who defeated his compatriot Nadir Baloch of Pakistan Greens 4-0.

 

Despite fielding two teams - Greens and Whites - Pakistan could not match China as the Pakistan Whites mustered 14 points while Pakistan Greens 10. Pakistan Whites finished at third position and Pakistan Greens at a poor sixth on the points table.

 

The local boxers who earned bronze medals were flyweight Mohammed Waseem of Pakistan Greens, lightweight Nawaz Dad of Pakistan Whites, welterweight Zakir Hussain of Pakistan Whites, middleweight Nadir Khan of Pakistan Whites, Pakistan Whites' light-heavyweight Mohammad Ali, heavyweights Yasir Javed of Pakistan Greens and Imran Shah of Pakistan Whites and super-heavyweight Waqar Ahmed of Pakistan Whites

 

In an all-Pakistan light-flyweight final Mohib outboxed his teammate Nadir with ease. Starting with two points in the opening round, Mohib earned another vital point in the second and walked away victor after wrapping up with yet another point in the final round.

 

Flyweight Abdul Waheed of Pakistan Whites went down fighting Thailand's Anan Pongkhet 2-1.

 

After losing the opening round 1-0, the Pakistani fought back in the second to finish the round with a 1-1 deadlock. While Waheed prevented the Thai from scoring further, he failed to score any point in the final because of impeccable defence of the opponent as the round remained pointless.

 

Lightweight Adnan Hussain of Pakistan Greens was the last local boxer to lose when he was thrashed 6-2 by Ibrahim Sanda of Syria.

 

Following a cautious start in the first round which remained pointless, Adnan threw some quick jabs, but Syrian did not lose time in launching a retaliatory attacks. Southpaw Adnan finally went 1-0 up only to see Sanda moving 3-1 with stinging shots. The neck-and-neck fight saw Adnan scoring his second point with a power shot but still trailing 3-2 in the second round.

 

Although Adnan enjoyed better reach, Sanda overcame the Pakistani who became sluggish in the third round and paid dearly. While Adnan lacked enthusiasm, Sanda was at his best as his left-right combination and stinging jabs resulted in three more points and a deserved victory for the Syrian.

 

Fanlong became the light-heavyweight champion when he handed a pulverising 7-1 defeat to Hungary's Imre Szello, while heavyweight Xuan emerged winner after Mustafa Mohammad of Iraq was stopped in the second round after being retired.

 

Heshuai was a close winner on tie-breaker when he ended the fight at 2-2 against Ghson Ahmad of Syria who finished at second with 20 points with two gold and equal number of silver medals.

 

Yong was declared winner after a walkover against Mongolia J. Otgonbayar who was found overweight during the weigh-in before the fight.

 

Syria won their second gold through middleweight Moutafa Fara who beat China's Sile Hu 14-3.

 

Welterweight B. Tuvshinbat of Mongolia, who was also adjudged the best boxer of the tournament, won the solitary gold for his country with an impressive 7-2 victory over Mashhurbek Ruziyev of Uzbekistan.

 

In a tournament which hardly saw scores crossing 10 points, Cameroon's Mulema Joseph gave Ahmed B. Jassem of Iraq a boxing lesson with a 15-0 thrashing in the welterweight fight which was perhaps the highest scoring bout the of the tournament.

 

Thailand clasped their second gold when Donchai Thathi edged past Syria's Wessam Salamana. 1-0.

 

The finals were also watched by British world light-welterweight champion Amir Khan who is on a visit to his country of origin on the invitation of Pakistan Boxing Federation.

 

According to the points scoring criteria, there were three points for gold, one for silver and one point for each win in the tournament, while there was no point for bronze.

 

Results (finals)

 

Light-flyweight Mohib Bacha (Pakistan Whites) bt Nadir Baloch (Pakistan Greens) 4-0. Hassan Ali Shakir (Iraq) and Mahmudov Alisher (Uzbekistan) (bronze).
Flyweight Anan Pongkhet (Thailand) bt Abdul Waheed (Pakistan Whites) 2-1. Niamogui Songlnekani (Central African Republic) and Mohammed Waseem (Pakistan Greens) (bronze).
Bantamweight Yong Dang (China) bt J. Otgonbayar (Mongolia) walkover. Nguyen Van Hai (Vietnam) and Chin Yuan Kao (Chinese Taipei) (bronze).
Featherweight Donchai Thathi (Thailand) bt Wessam Salamana (Syria) 1-0. Mohammad Ridhwan (Singapore) and Ketchemi Justin (Cameroon) (bronze).
Lightweight Ibrahim Sanda (Syria) bt Adnan Hussain (Pakistan Greens) 6-2. Nawaz Dad (Pakistan Whites) and Hanggai Bayin (China) (bronze).
Light-welterweight B. Tuvshinbat (Mongolia) bt Mashhurbek Ruziyev (Uzbekistan) 7-2. Chin Fa Sui (China) and Bilige Huricha (China) (bronze).
Welterweight Mulema Joseph (Cameroon) bt Ahmed B. Jassem (Iraq) 15-0. Selebangue Welcome (Central African Republic) and Zakir Hussain (Pakistan Whites) (bronze).
Middleweight Moutafa Fara (Syria) bt Sile Hu (China) 14-3. Aung Ko Ko (Myanmar) and Nadir Khan (Pakistan Whites) (bronze).
Light-heavyweight Fanlong Meng (China) bt Imre Szello (Hungary) 7-1. Mohammad Ali (Pakistan Whites) and Parnoj Kumar (India) (bronze).
Heavyweight Xuan Bao (China) bt Mustafa Mohammad (Iraq) retired/II. Yasir Javed (Pakistan Greens) and Imran Shah (Pakistan Whites) (bronze).
Super-heavyweight Heshuai Li (China) bt Ghson Ahmad (Syria) 2-2 (1-0).Waqar Ahmed (Pakistan Whites) and Naresh (India) (bronze).

 

Points table and medal standings (tabulated as team, gold, silver, bronze, total medals and points)

 

China 4 1 2 7 29
Syria 2 2 0 4 20
Pakistan Whites 1 1 6 8 14
Thailand 2 0 0 2 13
Mongolia 1 1 0 2 10
Pakistan Greens 0 2 2 4 10
Cameroon 1 0 1 2 9
Iraq 0 2 1 3 6
Uzbekistan 0 1 1 2 5
Central African Republic 0 0 2 2 3
Chinese Taipei 0 0 2 2 3
Hungary 0 1 0 1 2
India 0 0 2 2 2
Myanmar 0 0 1 1 1
Singapore 0 0 1 1 1
Vietnam 0 0 1 1 1

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