Pakistani boxers with shoestring budget carry hopes of podium finish at 2026 Commonwealth Games
The 21-year-old Afzal Khan posted first win for the country in Glasgow
Pakistani boxers are hoping against hope, and despite competing on a shoestring budget, they are looking to surprise you and even win a medal or two.
Their first success came as the national welterweight champion Afzal Khan defeated Seychelles’ Jovanie Bouzin 5-0 in a unanimous decision at the 2026 Commonwealth Games boxing preliminaries in Glasgow on July 24.
This is also the first win in any competition for Pakistan at the 2026 Games.
At the same time, two Pakistani Olympian swimmers who competed earlier in the day had failed to even qualify beyond their first heats.
Up next, the Islamic Solidarity Games bronze medallist Fatima Zahra will take the stage in the lightweight bout against Lesotho’s Raeleboha Segoete.
Afzal Khan hails from Quetta and represents Pakistan Navy in the national circuit. He won the national championship title last year.
The 21-year-old won his bout on points.
“By the grace of Allah, Afzal have won the bout,” the Pakistan Boxing Federation Secretary and team manager in Glasgow Major Irfan Younis expressed the gratitude right after the bout in his comments to Lost on the Desk.
The boxers are poised to have a decent finish apart from medal hopes that are pinned on the Paris Olympic champion javelin thrower Arshad Nadeem, and Olympian judoka Shah Hussain Shah.
Misfits and hustlers
The boxing draws were revealed on July 23, and the Pakistan Boxing Federation secretary, who is also playing a major role as a supporting official for the boxers, added there are chances of good results despite tough competition in each of the five categories the country is fielding athletes.
There are 14 boxing events at the Games, seven categories for men and seven for women.
“The draws are not bad, but there is a lot of competition,” Major Irfan Younis eaplained. “Unfortunately, we couldn’t field boxers in all of the categories, especially in the less competitive ones since we do not have boxers available for them, because we do not have the resources for it; there are financial constraints.
“The Pakistan Sports Board only supported us with just two athletes, but we still managed to bring five athletes along with a coach and a manager. It takes a good amount of resources to prepare a boxer for each category, but if we had more boxers competing in a larger number of events it would increase the possibility of winning more medals.”
Besides Afzal and Fatima, Islamic Solidarity Games bronze medallist in men’s boxing Qudratullah will take on Zambia’s Albert Ngullube in the 60 kg boxing preliminary.
Sumama Rehman got a bye in the men’s 55 kg event; he will compete directly in the second round of preliminaries.
Malaika Zahid will be competing in 54kg second preliminary round after getting a bye in the first.
Element of surprise
Younis added that there are 74 teams, and he said that the boxers from the African continent always carry an element of surprise.
“You can get some really good boxers from the African countries, but at the same time we don’t know much about them, so there is a mystery there too. Similarly, boxers from Scotland and England are dominant, and the Indians are really good. They have a strong contingent.
“When it comes to women’s boxing, India have been world champions.
“They also have men’s boxers in the Olympics too. So it is going to be a very tough road to medals for Pakistan,” explained the Pakistan Boxing Federation secretary and team manager, as he is also supervising a long-term plan for the development of boxing in Pakistan.
The boxing federation also signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the Kazakhstan Boxing Federation, and had a two-week training camp for boxers with Kazakh coaches in June ahead of the Commonwealth Games.
“These boxers we have are also coming from talent hunts we did for the boxing federation, and we are trying our best to implement our plan for the long term. We are giving all that we can,” added Younis, who is also completing his PhD while working with the boxers.