Yousuf Ali al-Kazim, Qatar Boxing Federation president (centre) along with Ahmed al-Zirah, member of QBF (right) and Hassan al-Mohammadi, member of QBF during the press conference yesterday. Picture: Nasar
By Joe Koraith/Doha
Boxing fans in Doha are in for a treat as the Doha Open, organised by Qatar Boxing Federation (QBF), starts tomorrow. The tournament, which will be held at the Qatar Sports Club, will feature more than 40 boxers and will be played over the next two days. The only condition for participation was that the contestants should be residents of Qatar.
QBF had received over 95 entries for this event out of which 40, who met the criteria laid down by the federation, have been shortlisted.
It has been some time since a local boxing tournament has been conducted. The last time such an event took place was in 2008. The first one was in 2001 and since then four more tournaments were conducted. But now the QBF is looking to promote boxing and will conduct this event every year to try and unearth more talent.
“We would like to see something new in this tournament. A new talent which will surprise us all,” said Yousuf Ali al-Kazim, president Qatar Boxing Federation, during the press conference yesterday. “The tournament is called Doha Open. It is open to all. Anybody who stays in Qatar can come and box,” he added.
The tournament will have two categories. One for adults aged 19 to 40. And the second for kids aged between 17 and 18. The adults will play without safety headgear while the kids will have to wear them. The format will be of three rounds of three minutes each with a break between the rounds. There will be five judges who will be doing the scoring. And the computer will randomly pick the results of three judges and based on those scores the winner will be decided. This is to negate the possibility of bias amongst judges.
“This is the first time here that the referees will use the new rules released by AIBA (International Boxing Federation). We have trained the judges and referees to use the new system,” informed al-Kazim. The QBF president even gave the media a demo of how the scoring system works to show its efficiency. “This is a local tournament but we are adhering to the rules of an international tournament,” he added.
There are medals for the winners and the event will be following the international format of gold, silver and two bronzes. As for the prize money, al-Kazim said they would announce that later.
The QBF is also undertaking strict medical checks to ensure that the participants meet the required criteria. In fact, there will be a final round of medical check-ups today and after that the list will be finalised. “In the end I don’t want to put people at risk. We have our own medical commission to check all the details,” said the QBF president.
The QBF is planning to conduct more tournaments after this to increase the popularity of the sport in the country. “We will be having a ‘Friends Competition’ where we will invite boxers from European, Asian and Arab countries. But we haven’t decided the details yet,” said al-Kazim.
“Right now we are focussing on this competition. We are hoping to do something good here and I hope that we see a new player coming through,” he added.
And more than medals, there is also another incentive for the boxers to do well in this tournament. “Next month we have a tournament in Belarus. If we get a good boxer from this competition then I will take him for that tournament,” said al-Kazim.
“There are a lot of boxers who want to play but they don’t know how to get into the game. Our federation is open anytime for anyone. Our doors are open,” signed off al-Kazim.
