Sri Lanka can lay claim to a bonus medal at the ASBC Asian U22 and Youth Boxing Championships in Colombo courtesy Pakistan’s Umar Raza Khan.

The Pakistani boxer did not have his regular coaches due to visa wrangles when he landed in Sri Lanka but the Boxing Association of Sri Lanka (BASL) magnanimously loaned his two local coaches Rusiru Opanayake and Anjana Viraj as his trainers.

The tall southpaw representing IBA-Pakistan had strong sparring sessions before the start of the championships to become the country’s first medallist. 

In the quarter-finals, he used his longer reach well enough against Saudi Arabia’s Mohammed Almuwallad. The Pakistani bantamweight (54kg) boxer counterattacked the Saudi rival with perfect timing and he worked well enough to win this quarter-final.

The Sri Lankan coaches could not function in his corner when he met local boy Ashen Karunayaka in the semi-final. Khan used his longer hands to keep the shorter Sri Lankan at bay. 

The Pakistani southpaw counter-attacked the Sri Lankan boxer with perfect timing in the first and second rounds to take the massive lead on the judges’ scorecards. Khan used his height advantage well in this contest and the virtuoso boxer secured a final spot for Pakistan. He will meet Tajikistan’sanushervon Fazylov in the 54kg Unde-22 final today.

Afghanistan, Australia, Bangladesh, Cambodia, French Polynesia, IBA-India, Indonesia, Iraq, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Kuwait, Malaysia, Mongolia, Nepal, New Zealand, IBA-Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, Sri Lanka, Tajikistan, Thailand, United Arab Emirates, Uzbekistan and Vietnam are the 23 participating nations in this championship.