The Hindu : Sport / Boxing : Qamar has a chance to seal Olympic berth

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Wednesday, May 05, 2004

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Sport - Boxing

Qamar has a chance to seal Olympic berth

By Our Sports Reporter

NEW DELHI, MAY 4. The purpose and perseverance shown by boxer Mohammed Ali Qamar during his gold medal triumph at the Manchester Commonwealth Games seems to be lacking these days.

It's time Qamar came up with another solid performance to boost his confidence as well as book a place for the Athens Olympics.

The light-fly pugilist has a chance to do that in the third and final Olympic qualifying tournament to be held in Karachi from May 6 to 12.

Qamar is part of the four-member team the Indian Amateur Boxing Federation (IABF) has cleared for the Karachi event.

Bantamweight Diwakar Prasad, lightweight Ramanand and light-welter Vijender are the other members of the squad which leaves on Wednesday.

"All the four boxers are in fine form after the month-long camp in NIS Patiala,'' said the chief coach, Gurbux Singh Sandhu.

"We have selected only the deserving candidates as it is futile to carry more baggage without purpose,'' he added.

A berth in the Olympic Games boxing competition will be assured if any of the boxers make it to the final of their respective weight categories in the Karachi event.

The coach expects at least one of the four to qualify.

So far, flyweight Akhil Kumar and light-heavy Jitender Kumar have booked their tickets to Athens.

Both made it through the second qualifying tournament held in Guangzhou (China) in March.

The team: Mohammed Ali Qamar (48-kg); Diwakar Prasad (54-kg); Ramanand (60-kg) and Vijender (64-kg).

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