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LAHORE: Pakistan’s first woman boxer to win a Commonwealth Games medal believes she could have won gold had she enjoyed the same standard of training facilities and resources as her international rivals.
“I am happy to become the first Pakistani woman boxer to win a medal at the Commonwealth Games. The competition was extremely tough. Almost all my rivals had been training in the United States,” Fatima Zehra told Dawn from Glasgow, where she settled for a bronze medal after losing her semi-final bout to Canada’s Marie-Bathoul Al-Ahmadieh.
The 22-year-old boxer from Sargodha said her primary target before leaving for Glasgow was to secure a medal, though she had also hoped to reach the final.
“Before arriving in Glasgow, my target was to win a medal and I was also hoping to win the semi-final. But my opponent was too fast and had vast international experience, making her a very difficult rival,” said Fatima, who represents Pakistan Army at the domestic athletics circuit.
