Nooristani bags gold in Afghanistan elite tourney return
Veteran boxer Mohammad Khaiber Nooristani made a successful comeback after bagging the middleweight (75kg) title in the Afghanistan Elite National Championships 2023 held early this month in the province of Nangarhar.
The 36-year-old Nooristani, who won his first national gold medal in 2008 put up a clinical performance against Obaidullah Alami in the final.
Nooristani previously represented Afghanistan in the World and Asian Boxing Championships as well as the Olympic qualifiers.
Nangarhar province was the host of the national event for the very first time and the competition took place in an open stadium. Nangarhar is located in the Eastern part of the country and bordering Logar, Kabul, Laghman and Kunar provinces as well, furthermore it has an international border with Pakistan.
Hidayatullah Safi (minimum-48kg), Zainuddin Ghawsi (feather-57kg) and Yusuf Golzad (light heavy-80kg) were the other notable winners in the national tilt.
Safi faced his main national rival, Rizvan Agha in the final once again and he repeated his last strong performance to take the first title in the event. Jabar Popelzi defeated Masihullah Hamidi at the flyweight (51kg), while Saifullah Amrakhil had a brilliant performance against Asadullah Yadgar at the bantamweight (54kg).
Zainuddin Ghawsi came from a boxing family and the young talent proved that he is one of the future stars at the featherweight (57kg). Ghawsi controlled all of the three rounds against an experienced boxer, Omid Kohestani and bagged the title of the category.
Mohammad Idris Jafari triumphed over Obaidullah Saifi in the final of the lightweight (60kg) earning the title of the busiest category. Hamsa Kochi and Shoaib Faisal continued the family traditions in our sport and became champions in Nangarhar province. Haris Karimi moved up to the light middleweight (71kg) and he celebrated the next gold medal against Faraz Amiri in the final.
A total of 188 elite men boxers from 26 provinces participated across the 13 official weight classes featured in the first competition in Afghanistan this year.
All the champions and medalists were selected for the national pool that will train for the upcoming international tournaments.
List of winners in the Afghanistan Elite National Championships 2023
48kg: Hidayatullah Safi 51kg: Jabar Popelzi 54kg: Saifullah Amrakhil 57kg: Zainuddin Ghawsi 60kg: Mohammad Idris Jafari 63.5kg: Hamas Kochi 67kg: Shoaib Faisal 71kg: Haris Karimi 75kg: Mohammad Khaiber Nooristani 80kg: Yusuf Golzad 86kg: Elham Ansari 92kg: Abdul Bashir Rahimi +92kg: Nusratullah Heydari
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