KARACHI, May 16: Asian Games gold medallist Mehrullah said on Friday that the unprecedented cash reward of Rs 5m announced by the government will fuel his desire to win greater laurels for Pakistan.

Mehrullah, a featherweight boxer from Lyari, who won a gold medal at the 2002 Asian Games in Busan, said that he has set his sights on a medal in next year’s Olympic Games.

He said that his training for the Olympic Games was in full swing and God willing he will make his nation proud by reaching the medals podium at the 2004 Olympiad in Athens.

“Winning a gold medal at the Olympic Games has always been my biggest desire and now that I have won (a gold medal) at the Asian Games I think that it is not an impossible target to achieve something similar at the Olympics,” said the 22-year-old Mehrullah.

But the talented pugilist agreed that winning an Olympic gold medal will be far too difficult that clinching the Asian Games title.

“I know that at the Olympic Games, the world’s best boxers will be competing for the medals. Though my target will be to win the gold in my category but even winning a bronze medal will be enough for me in the Olympics,” said Mehrullah.

Only one Pakistani boxer has ever won an Olympic medal in the past. Hussain Shah, who also hailed from Lyari, won a bronze medal at the 1988 Olympic Games in Seoul.

Mehrullah said that he would give his best first to qualify for the Olympics and then do well in Athens.

Mehrullah said that a whopping cash reward of Rs five million announced for him by President Pervez Musharraf would help him to achieve greater goals.

ISLAMABAD: President Gen. Pervez Musharraf will give away Rs 4.5 million to Asian Games gold-medallist boxer Meherullah on Monday.

“I will receive this prize money from the President at Governor House in Karachi on May 19”, Meherullah told newsmen here on Friday.

He said he had already received Rs. 500,000 of the prize money after winning the gold medal at Asian Games at Busan last year.—PPI/APP