10 Indian Boxers Selected for International Event in Armenia

After plenty of sparring action at the domestic arena, a 10 member Indian boxing team will soon leave for Armenia to participate in an International Boxing Tournament. The tournament being organised under the patronage of the National Olympic Committee of Armenia is scheduled from 11^th- 17^th April, 2011 in Yerevan, the capital of the landlocked mountainous country. 18 countries have registered for this edition of the tournament, including team like Russia, Spain, Uzbekistan, Mongolia, Israel and India.

After the 2010 Asian Games in Guangzhou, China, this would be the first International contest that Indian boxers would partake in. Taking a step forward towards providing Indian pugilists more and more international exposure and an opportunity to excel at the global level the Indian Boxing Federation had decided to field a team for this event. This competition marks the beginning of the first phase of IABF’s preparation and groundwork for the London Olympics next year.

For national coach GS Sandhu this contest is the right start to the preparation for the Asian and World Championships later this year and the 2012 Olympics next year. He expressed, “The competition is going to be very strong but we are hopeful of a good feedback”. “Medals are not our priority at this point, long term goals and to get good learning from this tournament is what we are looking at”.

The IABF held selections at the 34^th National Games in Jamshedpur, Jharkhand for this competition and based on the performance at the games, the 10 member squad was shortlisted. The selection committee at the trials comprised of Coach Sandhu, Arjuna awardees Mehtab Singh, Mohd. Ali Qamar and Gopal Devang.

Asian silver medallist, Thokchom Nanao Singh will spearhead the Indian challenge at the tournament. Nanao, who suffered a hand injury last year, staged a stunning comeback to win the gold at the National Games. Sunil Kumar and MB Lakra also made a place in the team with a gold medal winning performance in Jamshedpur. The 10 member squad for the tournament is as follows:

Wt. Cat	Name	State
49 Kg	Th. Nanao Singh	SSCB
52 Kg	Sunil Kumar	RSPB
56 Kg	Mishal Banjamin Lakra	RSPB
60 Kg	Sandeep	AIP
64 Kg	Rakesh Kalaskar	SSCB
69 Kg	Amit Kakri	SSCB
75 Kg	J S Patel	SSCB
81 Kg	Sumit Singh	Delhi
91 Kg	Parveen Kumar	RSPB
91 Kg	Arun Kumar	HAR

Warm RegardsBrig PK Muralidharan Raja, SM, VSMSecretary GeneralIndian Boxing Federation6^th Apr, 2011