Pakistan welcomes 10 nations to the ring

January 14 - The Chinese amateur boxing team won first place in the team event of the tournament, the first Shaheed Benazir Bhutto International Tournament, held in Karachi, Pakistan at the KPT Benazir Sports Complex from January 1 - 9, winning four gold medals. It was the first major amateur boxing event of 2010 and the first international sports event in Pakistan since the Mumbai terrorist attack in November 2008.

Host nation Pakistan competed with two teams in the event, which saw a total of 20 teams competing from China, Thailand, Uzbekistan, Mongolia, Syria, India, Hungary, Kenya, Iraq and Cameroon. Rising British-Pakistani star Amir Khan and 1988 Seoul Olympic Games bronze medalist Syed Hussain Shah were awarded honorary gold medals on behalf of the Pakistan Boxing Federation.

Syria clinched two gold and two silver medals in Karachi. Thailand collected two golds and host nation Pakistan won only one gold medal. Byamba Tuvshinbat of Mongolia (64kg) was named best boxer of the event. The tournament was the first-ever boxing event in Pakistan to offer prize money to boxers and teams.

Outside the ring, nine boxers, including Beijing Olympian welterweight boxer Joseph Mulema of Cameroon and eight other African boxers, embraced Islam, converting to the religion while in Karachi for the tournament.