National champion Govind Sahani takes a short break to recover from shoulder niggle

Uttar Pradesh’s 24-year-old international boxer Govind Sahani's right shoulder niggle will keep him away from training sessions for almost a fortnight.

The Railways national champion in men’s 48kg also skipped the ongoing Strandja Memorial Boxing Tournament in Bulgaria due to shoulder pain.

Sahani spoke exclusively to Sportskeeda about his situation.

“The medical expert associated with the national camp advised me to break for two weeks to recover from a minor shoulder,” Sahani said. “Since I’ve started rehabilitation for my shoulder, I opted out of the European exposure tour.”

The boxer from Gorakhpur in Uttar Pradesh said he is looking forward to upcoming major multi-discipline events, including the Asian Games in September.

“Like all other boxers in the camp, I too have set my eyes for a good performance at the Asian Games in China,” the national champion said.

How have the other boxers besides Sahani fared so far?

At the Strandja Memorial Boxing Tournament in Sofia, India’s Sumit started his campaign on a positive note by defeating 2021 World Championships silver medallist Dzhambulat Bizhamov in his opening 75kg bout.

The Indian scored a 5-0 victory against his Russian opponent. Sumit will now face Ukraine’s Oleksandr Khyzhniak in his second round.

Narender Berwal (+92kg), Varinder Singh (60kg) and Lakshya Chahar (86kg) however weren’t successful in the opening rounds of their respective bouts.

Berwal went down fighting 2-3 against Spanish boxer Ayoub Ghadfa Drissi while Singh lost 0-5 to his Russian opponent Artur Subkhankulov.

Chahar also lost to Russia’s Sharabutdin Ataev 1-4.

Akash Sangwan, who received a bye in the opening round, will play against German pugilist Daniel Krotter in the 67kg second round match late Monday night.

The 17-member Indian contingent, including seven men and 10 women, is participating in the tournament. It is the first from the Golden Belt Series and also a testing event for the International Boxing Association’s World Boxing Tour format. It is also the first exposure trip for Indian boxers this year.

The prestigious tournament, which will be played until February 27, has been witnessing the participation of over 450 boxers from 36 countries around the world. It includes strong boxing nations such as Kazakhstan, Italy, Russia and France.