Every News: Asif continues training for Olympic qualifiers

Asif continues training for Olympic qualifiers
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KARACHI: Pakistan’s promising boxer Syed Mohammad Asif is undergoing hectic training in Quetta to prepare for the 2020 Olympic qualifiers whose schedule is yet to be unveiled.“I am working very hard here at Quetta for the Olympic qualifiers,” Asif told ‘The News’ from his hometown Quetta on Thursday.“Although we don’t know yet about the schedule of the qualifiers, as a boxer it is my responsibility to keep myself in top practice every time,” the hard-working boxer said.Asif admitted that with the current training he would not be able to make a cut for the 2020 Olympics.“With this training it is not possible to achieve anything big. You know we need a foreign coach and foreign training tours. Unless you train with the best boys you cannot improve your game,” the boxer said.After featuring in the Asian Games in Indonesia last year, Asif went to Iran a couple of months ago for training.“We underwent training at three different places in Iran for 40 days. We returned two weeks ago. It was a good experience as Iran’s boxers are good. Sparring with them has improved my game,” Asif said.His coach Habibullah Jafferi had taken him to Iran for training, the boxer said.Asif also intends to get some tips from former Asian Games bronze medallist and now professional fighter Mohammad Waseem. “I plan to get tips from Waseem. I tried to contact him a few days ago but I was told that he was in Islamabad,” said Asif.Asif is one of Pakistan’s top boxers. He got a silver medal in the 2016 South Asian Games in India.Pakistan are scheduled to feature in the Asian Championships in Thailand in April. But Asif says he does not know whether he will go there. “I don’t know yet about that event. We have not been told anything by the authorities,” Asif said.The other day Pakistan Boxing Federation’s (PBF) secretary Col Nasir Tung told ‘The News’ that every effort would be made to send Pakistan’s various age-group boxers to the key events this year.Asian Championships and World Championships are the two major events of boxing this year.The continental event also acts as qualifiers for the World Championships to be held in Sochi, Russia, in September.The Olympic fate of boxing will be known after the resolution of matters between the International Olympic Committee (IOC) and the world boxing governing body (AIBA).