UAE to host Asian Boxing C’ship in solidarity with India
Sharjah coach Abdulaziz Al Anbari heaped praise on his team for showing a remarkable fortitude in their fight-back against Air Force of Iraq in their AFC Champions League match on Monday.
Sharjah came from a goal down to beat Air Force and punch a ticket for the Round of 16 with a match to spare.
With the victory, Sharjah have taken an unassailable lead and ensured a berth in the knockout stages of the continental championship ater along gap of 16 years
Sharjah, who opened their campaign with victory against Air Force in the first match, put up a stellar show throughout the tourney.
The hosts went into the match knowing a victory assure a Round of 16 berth ater their nearest rivals Tractor of Iran were held by Pakhtakor in the early kick-off the day.
Anything less than a victory for the hosts, would leave the qualification race for the next round wide open and the batle would go down to the wire.
Where both Sharjah and Tractor, who were keeping hot the heels of the leaders would square off in the decider, which has been reduced a dead rubber now as a clinical Sharjah let nothing to chance.
“We are exalted with the result and ater booking a berth in the Round of 16. It was a tough game against a strong team.
“Players had to put up a lot of physical and mental effort as the impact of playing back-toback matches was evident in the match,” said a delighted Anbari, who guided Sharjah to their Arabian Gulf League title in 2018-19 season.
Anbari and his Pakhtakor counter-part Pieter Huistra both had express their discord regarding the tight fixtures, which is taking toll on players’ mental and physical fitness. All the teams are playing a game every third since the tournament began.
“We were up against a rival, who had nothing to lose and they were playing with zero pressure. But the palyers were again fabulous and exuded a remarkable resilience to snatch a victory form the jaws of defeat,” he added.
Air Force are at the botom of the Group B with just points ater as many draws and three losses form their five outings. They were out of contention for a Round of 16 spot which allowed them to play fearlessly to salvage their pride.
Jefferson Colazos broke the deadlock for the visitors before Khalid Bawazir restored the parity for the hosts. Bawazir is in stellar form as his goal tally surged to three in the tournament so far.
He had scored the lone goal against Air Force in the opener to set the tone for the rest of the tourney and added one more in Pakhtakor’s 4-1 rout in their third game of the campaign.
Salem Saleh, who was also on target in the Pakhtakor 4-1 romp, added one more to his tally in the 35th minute to make it 2-1.
But soon ater half-time break, Colazos again struck and leveled the score before Saleh doubled his tally, sloting home the winner to give Sharjah three points.
Anbari justified his substitution of the players to try bench strength.
“The substitutes deserve to play. Some players need rest while other need a bit of match practice at the AFC Champions League. We need to try the bench strength and give some practice to the players, especially when we will be playing in the AGL just three days ater the end of the group stages,” stressed Anbari.
“This is a difficult tournament, which is really demanding both physically and mentally. You need to have depth in squad to play in such tournaments.
“We were lucky to get through to the group stages without any major injury to the players, who were playing in such a jam-packed schedule,” reiterated the Sharjah coach.
A defiant Air Force coach Ayoub Odisho lamented the injuries but described their campaign as an enriching experience ater returning to the competition ater a decade.
“We got off to a good start today again but failed to capitalize on it. We commited some basic mistakes which you cannot afford at this level,” rued Odisho.
“It has been a great learning curve to play in the continental championship with the champions of respective leagues.
ABU DHABI: The UAE Boxing Federation, in coordination with the Indian Boxing Federation and the International Boxing Association (AIBA), will host the Asian Boxing Championship on 21st May, 2021, in Dubai.
The championship was set to be held in the Indian capital, New Delhi, on the same date, but the coronavirus (COVID-19) situation in India prevented the event from taking place.
The UAE Boxing Federation subsequently offered to host the event in solidarity with India, and both the General Authority for Sports and the Asian Boxing Federation welcomed the move.
Anas Al Otaiba, President of the Asian and Emirati Federations, welcomed hosting the championship in the UAE, which will give Asian boxers who qualified for the Tokyo Olympics the opportunity to participate, enabling them to prepare for the Olympics in July. He also pointed out that the UAE supports friendly countries and allocates all possible resources to serve sports and lead the region and continent in overcoming the COVID-19 pandemic.
Hassan Al Hammadi, Secretary-general of the UAE Boxing Federation, noted that the General Authority for Sports confirmed that it will provide all necessary assistance to make the event a success, affirming that the National Emergency, Crisis and Disasters Management Authority (NCEMA) and all other relevant authorities were approached to support the event.
He added that today, he met with Saeed Abdul Ghaffar, Secretary-general of the General Authority for Sports, who stressed that the authority welcomes this step and will provide the necessary logistical support, including assisting relevant authorities in issuing entry visas to participating teams who will stay at the Royal Meridien Hotel in Dubai close to the airport.
Hammadi then thanked the authority and Ghaffar for their efforts to make Emirati sporting programmes succeed, which will advance the national sports sector and reinforce the UAE’S regional sporting stature.
“We will cooperate with all our partners in hosting the Asian Boxing Championship and ensuring its success. The event will be renamed the ‘ Asian Boxing Championship, New DelhiDubai,’ in light of our keenness to support our friends in India,” he added.
The continental competition was postponed in 2020 due to the pandemic. In March, the AIBA -- the world governing body for boxing, announced that India will host the event from May 21 to 31.
More than 30 countries are expected to compete. BFI had also conducted national selection trials in the women’s category.
Since March, several elite women boxers atending the national camp in New Delhi are either recovering from a bout of Covid-19 or have recovered and are yet to resume training.
Olympic-bound Simranjit Kaur, who has qualified in women’s 60 kg, is one of the prominent boxers to have tested positive for Covid-19 recently.