By IANS
Karachi : Seven of Pakistan’s top boxers have left for Cuba for a three-month coaching camp in Havana to prepare them for the 2008 Beijing Olympics.
An eighth boxer, Mir Waiz, had to pull out at the last moment due to illness and might join his teammates after he recovers, a Pakistan Boxing Federation (PBF) spokesman said.
The boxers who left for Cuba Wednesday are: Nauman Karim, Ali Muhammad, Abid Ali, Muhammad Sajid, Asghar Ali Shah, Dur Muhammad and Yasir Javed.
In October, they will go to Chicago to participate in the World Boxing Championships. Ironically, Cuba has pulled out of the event fearing its pugiistst might try and defect after a similar incident in the July PanAm Games in Brazil.
The world championship will be the first qualifying event for the 2008 Olympics as all eight quarter-finalists in each of the 11 weight categories book their ticket to Beijing.
“The best four boxers from the (Pakistan) squad will be selected for the World Championships,” The News reported Thursday.
According to the PBF spokesman, the federation is expecting Pakistani boxers to be ready for a few international competitions by training in Cuba, which is one of the biggest nurseries of amateur boxing in the world.
After hockey, boxing is the only sport in which Pakistan can hope to win an Olympic medal. Pakistan’s Hussain Shah had won a bronze medal at the 1988 Seoul Olympics.