By Sanjana Gupta Tadura
Hyderabad: After boxing at the state and national levels, city-based boxer Aftab Ahmed Osama is now aiming for an international medal. However, Osama is also seeking monetary support from the government as he remarks that boxing professionally costs money.
As a boxer for nearly 10 years, Osama has won 30 plus medals including the Sri Mula Adavaiah Goud memorial open state boxing men’s championship organized by the Telangana state boxing association gold medal, Chess Boxing Organization of India, World Chess Boxing Organization in Germany in 2018.
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Osama was the Gold Medalist for the Owaisi Memorial Junior/Sub Junior Boxing Championship in the year 2016.
Aftab Ahmed Osama also known as Osama F5 Boxer is a Hyderabadi boxer who represented the country in many events. Hailing from a middle-class family, his father is a retired teacher and his mother is a housewife.
From the age of 12, he was intrigued by boxing. Later, Osama began boxing with the little knowledge he possessed. In 2014, he started taking professional coaching from Habeeb Mustafa boxing academy located in Shamsheer Gunj under coach Habeeb Mustafa who has over 20 plus years of experience.
Osama attended Crown International School, studied intermediate at AR Junior College and completed his graduation from Anwarul Uloom Degree College. Osama trained each day for 5 to 6 hours.
So far, the boxer has received financial aid from educational institutions in the form of scholarships but did not receive any sponsorship on the professional front. Later, when he began winning medals, Eleven Sports and Hanzala Herbal Products began to assist him monetarily.
Osama remarks that he was often criticised for his small build. “People would ask me how a person as skinny as me could win matches against well-built boxers,” he says. But the criticism was hardly a deterrent.
As of the moment, Osama is hoping for the government to assist with his travel and training expenses so that he could compete at the international level.
