Pakistani boxer Agha Kaleem on Monday won the Light Fly Weight event at the World Muaythai Boxing Championship in the Bangkok city of Thailand.
The 23 years old boxer from Karachi was competing in the Senior Amateur 51-kilogram category. He said on Friday that his participation represented not only Pakistan but also Palestine.
The World Muaythai Championships are an annual competition of Muaythai, or Thai boxing, organized by the International Federation of Muaythai Associations. Alongside the World Games, it is the highest level of world competition for Muaythai.
Agha Kaleem said this year’s competition featured fighters from over 40 countries. “I competed against the three-time World and two-time Asian Champion from Kazakhstan, and he was a very tough player,” he said. “Another participant in my weight category was from India. But he declined to fight. So, I directly qualified in the final and had a tough fight which I won.”
Prior to going into the competition, Kaleem said in a social media post he was representing both Pakistan and Palestine. The video accompanying the post showed him at the opening ceremony of the tournament waving the flags of both countries.
