LAHORE: The five-day 36th National Men and 1st National Women Boxing Championships started under the auspice of WAPDA Sports Board in association with Pakistan Boxing Federation here at WAPDA Sports Complex on Saturday.

WAPDA Chairman and WAPDA Sports Board Pattern-in-Chief Lt Gen Muzammil Hussain (Retd) and Pakistan Olympic Association President Lt Gen (Retd) Arif Hassan were the chief guests of the opening ceremony of the Championship.

Speaking to the participants of the opening ceremony at WAPDA Sports Complex, the WAPDA Chairman said that sports persons were pride of the nation who brought laurels to the country.

He said that sports alone could be the catalyst and the tool to overcome national issues ranging from terrorism, illiteracy to fragile economy and could be a source of national harmony.

In the five-day long Championship, as many as 15 teams are participating in the Men events i.e. WAPDA, Army, Navy, Air Force, Railways, KPT, K-Electric, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Punjab, Sindh, Balochistan, Islamabad, AJ&K, FATA and Gilgit Baltistan.

Men's competitions will be held in 10 weight categories which are 46, 52, 56, 60, 64, 69, 75, 81, 91 and 91+ kilogramme.

With a view to popularize boxing amongst women folk, Women Championship is being organized for the first time, wherein as many as 24 women players from the provinces and associations will compete in three weight categories of 51, 60 and 75 Kilogramme.