Chief of the Army Staff General Asim Munir met Martial Arts champion Shahzaib Rind and boxer Amir Khan, said a statement by the military's wing, and appreciated their phenomenal achievements in the field of contact sports.
During the meeting with the country's champion athletes, the army chief expressed full confidence in Pakistan’s youth for their outstanding potential.
Rind, a mixed martial arts fighter from Balochistan, recently won the world's premier full-contact striking league Karate Combat in the United States. He is also a six-time national champion.
Famous boxer Khan retired from professional boxing with a record of 34-6, which included two super-lightweight world-title wins and five successful title defense fights.
Last week, The Express Tribune ran a cover story on Rind in its weekly T-Magazine. During the interview with the publication, the MMA fighter recounted his journey from the dusty foothills of Balochistan to the ring in the US.
The athlete also defeated India's Rana Singh during Karate Combat 45.
Read Winning with character: Shahzaib Rind's journey
"I trained rigorously for over a year, ensuring I was in peak condition for the bout. It was the biggest fight of my career," he told T-Magazine.
Rind also had a brawn with Singh as tensions ran high between the two. "The brawl with Indian fighter Rana Singh broke out after he abused me and talked inappropriately against Pakistan. After the press conference, when the Indian fighter abused me and pushed me, then I slapped him to bring him to his senses," Shahzaib recounted.
However, in true sportsmanship spirit, the Pakistani MMA champion held up both the Indian and Pakistani flags after winning the bout, promoting unity and positivity in the face of adversity and earning praise for his symbolic gesture.
Rind's aspirations soar even higher. "My ultimate goal is to become a world champion, or at least be on the brink of achieving it. I aim to make history as the first Pakistani to claim a world championship title in martial arts," shared the champion with the publication.
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