Young heroes in the finals of the Iraqi Clubs National Championships

The Iraqi Elite Clubs National Championships finished with its fourth competition day in Baghdad and several young winners made an important debut in the elite level. Altogether 91 bouts featured within four competition days in the national event and thirteen champions celebrated their gold medals.

The Alhashad Alsaby Boxing Club earned eight out of the thirteen gold medals in the championships and won almost all of their finals. The Army Boxing Club had eleven finalists in the event but only three of them succeeded while the teams of Alyat Alshorta and Omal Ninawa both claimed one title in Baghdad. The squads from Alqazriya, the Alnasrya and the Shabab Aliraq competed also successfully in the elite competition.

The Iraqi Elite Clubs National Championships was part of their selection process for the forthcoming Hangzhou 2023 Asian Games. The country is planning to send several boxers to the Games which will be the first Asian Qualifiers for Paris 2024.

The re-elected President of the Iraqi Boxing Federation, Mr. Ali Takleef, the First Vice-President of the Federation, Mr. Ali Abdulzahra Jawad and the doctor of the national competition, the ITO of the country, Mr. Abdulnasser Jasim all worked and followed the championships.  

Karrar Hayder Kadhim is a young talent in Iraq who had the skills to beat Army’s Moamen Abdelaal in the final of the bantamweight (54kg). Mohamed Satar of the Alhashad Alsaby Boxing Club caused a huge surprise in the final of the featherweight (57kg) where he defeated the ASBC Asian Youth silver medallist Mohammad Anwar Jassim Makassees.

Ammar Hassan Jabbar Karbalai earned a silver medal already at the 2011 Arab Games and he had the strength to beat another experienced boxer, Jaafar Abdulredha Ali Al-Sudani at the lightweight (60kg) final. Karbalai made a revenge due to a previous loss which he suffered in the final of the 2021 Iraqi National Championships.

The ASBC Asian U22 silver finished, Ali Qassim Hamdan Al-Sarray is only 20 but he had the effective long-range tactics to beat Jafar Samir in the final. The former Junior World Championships runner-up Sahm Qarrar Kadhim Al-Ezirej was too strong for his opponents at the welterweight (67kg) while the 19-year-old Karrar Hayder Ismael dominated the light middleweight (71kg).

The 24-year-old Muntazar Tahseen Sahar Al-Farttoosi bagged the title of the middleweight (75kg) while Khalil Ibrahim Khalil Karwi defended his throne at the light heavyweight (80kg). Army’s Zaidoun Tarek Mohammed Rabeah controlled all of his contests at the super heavyweight (+92kg) including the final against Baqer Amir.

The list of the winners at the 2023 Iraqi Clubs National Championships
48kg: Sajad Safa
51kg: Muntazar Ali
54kg: Karrar Hayder Kadhim
57kg: Mohamed Satar
60kg: Ammar Jabbar Hassan Karbalai
63.5kg: Ali Qassim Hamdan Al-Sarray
67kg: Sahm Qarrar Kadhim Al-Ezirej
71kg: Karrar Hayder Ismael
75kg: Muntazar Tahseen Sahar Al-Farttoosi
80kg: Khalil Ibrahim Khalil Karwi
86kg: Amir Kadhim Kazem Ghanim
92kg: Sajad Naser
+92kg: Zaidoun Tarek Mohammed Rabeah

Don’t forget you can keep up with all of the action, news, results and photos by following ASBC on Facebook and Instagram.
ASBC website: www.asbcnews.org
ASBC Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/ASBC.Boxing/
ASBC Instagram page: https://www.instagram.com/asbc_official/
ASBC Twitter: https://www.twitter.com/BoxingAsian?s=08