Boxer Amir Khan conferred with honorary captain's rank by Pakistan army

Boxer Amir Khan was conferred the honorary rank of captain by the Pakistan Army. The distinction was bestowed upon him after a meeting with Chief of Army Staff (COAS) General Syed Asim Munir.

In a video shared on his Instagram account, Khan thanked the army for the honour.

The boxer clarified that the the title was “simply an honorary rank” given to him by Pakistan. “I have a lot of love for the people of Pakistan and the country as a whole. So, I wanted to share this experience,” he wrote in a comment under the video.

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He further emphasised that he did not have “any involvement in the politic[al] side of things”.

The move comes after Khan had revealed that the Frontier Corps (FC) paramilitary force had taken over his boxing academy in Islamabad and set up residence for almost two years. As per a Dawn report, after suffering criticism, the Pakistan Sports Board had the academy vacated by the FC.

Khan thanked the government for helping in getting the facility vacated and vowed to get it up and running in a month.

“I want to say big thank you to Pakistan Sports Board and Pakistan Army and also government, also Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi, who helped us a lot for getting the premises vacated,” the former WBC silver welterweight world champion said in a video message from Dubai.

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“All FC personnel have gone from [the] gym [academy]. We will open the gym after one month and we will bring all new required equipment. I had been receiving a lot of messages from aspiring boxers that they had been unable to train. But now they can do that and aspire to fight for Pakistan on the world stage.”

In another post on Instagram, Khan called his Lahore visit in April a “productive trip”.

“Don’t believe all the false news about the academy — I still have the gyms and after speaking to the right people it will reopen very soon,” he stated.

Khan had signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to set up the academy in 2015 and followed it with a state-of-the-art facility. The facility was closed during the coronavirus pandemic and was taken over by the forces in 2022.

Amir Khan won silver medal for Great Britain at the 2004 Athens Olympics during his days as an amateur boxer. He turned professional in 2005 and held unified light-welterweight world championships between 2009 and 2012, including the WBA and IBF titles.