Cuban coach Aguilera to train Pakistan boxers

Former amateur world champion expected to arrive next week

KARACHI: Former amateur boxing world champion Bernardo Comas Aguilera of Cuba is expected to join Pakistan’s boxing camp at the National Coaching Centre in Karachi next week.

According to Pakistan Boxing Federation (PBF) Secretary Iqbal Hussain, the Cuban coach will train around 25 boxers for the upcoming South Asian Games and the 2016 Rio Olympics qualifiers that will take place in China in March.



“Aguilera will be in Pakistan soon,” Hussain told The Express Tribune. “We’ve just sent in his papers so that he gets his visa to come to Karachi. We’ll be planning the camp according to his directions once he is here.”

Hussain added that four local coaches will be assisting Aguilera, who also won the Pan American Games in 1983 after winning the 1982 World Championships in Munich.



The 55-year-old has reportedly coached boxers in Venezuela and El Salvador before the Karachi assignment.

Meanwhile, international boxer Arshad Hussain believes the players will take time to get used to a foreign coach.

Arshad has trained with other Cuban coaches like Julian Gonzalez and Francisco Hernandes Roldan, who had coached the PBF’s national camp till 2011.



“We’ll see what kind of technique Aguilera will introduce in the camp,” said Arshad, who competes in the 69kg category. “It always takes some time to adjust but I’m sure he would be good at his job. I’ve had a great experience with Julian and have learnt the most from him. Francisco was also very particular about developing the boxers’ skills.”

Published in The Express Tribune, December 24^th, 2015.

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