Amir Khan to bear expenses of Riffat's treatment.

Byline: Mohsin Ali

ISLAMABAD -- Pakistani-origin British boxer Amir Khan has responded to the SoS call given by former Pakistan No 1 squash player Riffat Khan and announced to bear all the expenses of her knee operation and also promised to send extra amount to buy squash gears.

Talking to The Nation from UK on Friday, Amir, who is a former unified light-welterweight world champion, said: 'It hurt me to know that Riffat is suffering badly. Although it is the responsibility of Pakistani government, federation, IPC Minister and PSB, but being an athlete, I can't see a top class player had to sacrifice her career just because of few bucks.

'I promise to not only bear all expenses of Riffat's knee operation, but will also send her extra amount to forget about daily expenditures and just concentrate fully on her recovery process and then restart her playing career with great passion,' he added.

Amir said: 'I am thankful to The Nation for bringing into my notice the sorry tale of a bright athlete. I promise to not only help one of the Pakistan's top squash player Riffat Khan but will also continue to help other deserving athletes. Whenever this correspondent will inform me about any deserving athlete, I will come forward to help him or her. I have already spent lot of money on Pakistani boxers, hired top professional coaches for my Amir Khan Boxing Academy in Islamabad, where number of Pakistani youngsters are not only getting free training, but also making their futures bright.

'Usman Wazir is a highly talented boxer from Gilgit-Baltistan, who has great passion to excel and earn laurels for the country at international level. I will continue to lend a helping hand to such boxers and arrange their bouts at any given international platform,' he asserted.

Amir said he don't have any lust of power nor want any personal glory. 'Pakistan is blessed with so many places like Pakistan Sports Complex, but it really hurts to see all such infrastructures are being badly neglected. I time and again requested Pakistani government to allocate a land to me so that I could construct more boxing academies in different cities of Pakistan, but so far, no one is ready to pay heed towards this important issue.

'It is...