Pakistan laid on heavy security Saturday for a boxing tournament, the country's first international sporting event since militants attacked the Sri Lanka cricket team's bus last March. Spectators were barred from the Benazir Bhutto international boxing tournament and some 3,000 police and paramilitary personnel guarded the venue in the congested Kharadar area of the city. The tournament began a day after a suicide bomber killed at least 96 people at a local volleyball match in northwest Pakistan, in a village opposed to Al-Qaeda-linked Taliban insurgents. “We are taking extra precautions because this is our first international sporting event for a long time,” said Akram Khan, the secretary of the Pakistan Amateur Boxing Federation. “We have not allowed entry of the general public into the sports complex but we have set up a giant screen for them outside the venue in a football ground so they can enjoy the boxing bouts.” Six Pakistani policemen and a driver were killed, and six Sri Lankan cricketers and two team officials were wounded, in the bus ambush in Lahore last year, leading to the cancellation of other sporting events in the country. The International Cricket Council (ICC) moved last year's Champions Trophy out of Pakistan and said it would do the same for matches at the 2011 World Cup. Boxers from 18 countries, including India and China, were taking part in the tournament at the sports complex named after Bhutto, the assassinated former Pakistan prime minister. Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gillani had been due to open the event but Federal Sports Minister Mir Ejaz Hussain Jakhrani took his place and said the premier had been kept away by a busy schedule. A large crowd of people watching the screen cheered loudly as Indian Sanjay Singh fought his bout against an Uzbekistan boxer. Organizers had put up a prize fund of $60,000 for the boxers.
