A take a look at of preparations: Indian boxers eye sturdy present at Asian Championships

A vital take a look at of preparations for Olympic-bound boxers, the Asian Championships get underway right here on Monday with India aiming to higher their record-shattering medal haul within the occasion’s earlier version.
A complete of 19 Indian boxers — 9 males and 10 girls — will stake their declare for the highest honours, which may even include an unprecedented bonus of prize cash this time.
The boxers reached right here on Saturday after a tumultuous few hours, which included a delayed touchdown and a few confusion over approval paperwork. In addition, the crew needed to withdraw South Asian Games gold-medallist Vinod Tanwar’s (49kg) title after he examined optimistic for COVID-19.
The build-up and the next journey appeared symbolic of the Indian boxers’ Olympic preparations this yr with COVID-19 disrupting coaching on a number of events.
“This will give us a good sign as to where we stand before the Olympics and where we need to adjust. It would be good for us that way,” Indian males’s boxing’s High Performance Director Santiago Nieva advised PTI.
India had delivered its greatest ever Asian Championship efficiency within the 2019 version in Thailand, claiming 13 medals, together with two gold, 4 silver and 7 bronze. This time too, expectations are excessive.
“We always come to win. We know it will be a very tough competition with many nations featuring Olympic qualified boxers and many medal winners from the world championships. But we are confident that our team will bring home a good results,” Nieva added with confidence.
From the Olympic-qualified group, defending champion Amit Panghal (52kg), final version’s silver-winner Ashish Kumar (75kg) and previous medallist Vikas Krishan (69kg) would be the ones spearheading the lads’s problem.
Among the ladies, six-time world champion M C Mary Kom, who has gained 5 gold medals on this occasion up to now, together with Simranjit Kaur (60kg), Lovlina Borgohain (69kg) and defending champion Pooja Rani (75kg) would be the sturdy medals bets. All 4 are certain for the Tokyo Games.
Also intently watched can be four-time medallist Shiva Thapa (64kg) eyeing a fifth successive podium end.
He has claimed one gold (2013), one silver (2017) and two bronze medals (2015 and 2019) in his 4 earlier appearances on the showpiece.
And this time, the International Boxing Association has additionally introduced a prize fund of the USD 400,000 for the occasion.
The event, which was initially deliberate in India however shifted to Dubai due to the COVID-19 pandemic, will award USD 10,000 to gold winners.
For silver-medallist, the prize cash is USD 5,000 and for each bronze medallists, it’s USD 2,500 USD every.
Apart from India, Indonesia, Iran, Kazakhstan, South Korea, Kyrgyzstan, Philippines, and Uzbekistan are among the many outstanding international locations which is able to compete on the continental showpiece.
Kazakhstan’s line-up seems fairly intimidating with world medal winners Saken Bibossynov (52kg), Ablaikhan Zhussupov (69kg), Bekzad Nurdauletov (81kg), Vasiliy Levit (91kg) and Kamshybek Kunkabayev (+91kg) within the males’s fold.
Their 4 girls’s world Champions — Nazym Kyzaibay (51kg), Dina Zholaman (54kg), Valentina Khalzova (69kg) and Lazzat Kungeibayeva (+81kg) — may even be in motion right here.
Indian Squads:
Men: Amit Panghal (52kg), Mohammad Hussamuddin (56kg), Varinder Singh (60kg), Shiva Thapa (64kg), Vikas Krishan (69kg), Ashish Kumar (75kg), Sumit Sangwan (81kg), Sanjeet (91kg) and Narender (+91kg).
Women: Monika (48kg), MC Mary Kom (51kg), Sakshi (54kg), Jasmine (57kg), Simranjeet Kaur (60kg), Lalbuatsaihi (64kg), Lovlina Borgohain (69kg), Pooja Rani (75kg), Saweety (81kg) and Anupama (+81kg).