Pakistan to hold national boxing championships

Islamabad, April 22 (IANS) Pakistan, none of whose pugilists have qualified for the 2012 London Olympics, will conduct its 34th national boxing championships from Monday in the eastern city of Lahore.

Pakistan Boxing Federation (PBF) secretary general Mohammad Akram Khan told Xinhua that at least 150 top pugilists would participate in the April 23-27 event at the Punjab College in Lahore.

"We hope it will turn out to be a historical event in which a record number of 150 boxers from 14 national teams have been confirmed to appear in the different weight categories," said Khan.

Pakistan had participated in six Olympic qualifying events but was eliminated after losing five of them.

Pakistan's last hope, Muhammad Waseem, the country's top boxer in 52-kg category, also crashed out of the Asian qualifiers after a 9-22 loss to Mongolian Tugstsogt Nyambayar.

A financial scam was also reported in the training camp for the Olympics and an inquiry has already been started by the higher authorities on the misappropriation of funds and to know the reasons behind boxers' failure.