Tokyo Olympics 2020: Indian boxers to travel abroad for a three-week training stint

Tokyo-bound Indian boxers will travel abroad for a three-week training stint as part of their preparations in the build-up to the Games. However, the nine qualified pugilists will return to India for a few days after the tour and travel to Tokyo just five-seven days prior to the start of the mega-event.

The core group of Indian boxers recently returned from Dubai after a successful outing at the 2021 Asian Boxing Championships. The contingent finished their campaign with a record-shattering medal tally of 15, which included two gold, five silver and eight bronze medals.

However, Pooja Rani (75kg) was the only Olympic-bound boxer to have won a gold medal in the continental meet. The athletes are presently enjoying a few days of a break following their return from Dubai, but are set to fly soon for the proposed training camp soon.

However, further details of the tour and the venue are yet to be disclosed.

"We will go abroad for training. The discussions are on and the place will be finalised in the next few days. It will be a three-week camp. We will come back to India to fine tune a few things, and then head to Tokyo five-seven days before the Games," said Santiago Nieva, Indian men’s Boxing’s High Performance Director.

Boxers need certain fine-tunings ahead of the Olympics, feels Nieva

Amit Panghal (52kg), one of India’s major medal prospects, was backed to claim top-honours at the Asian Championships, but lost to Shakhobidin Zoirov of Uzbekistan in the summit clash.

Vikas Krishan (69kg), who will also feature in the Olympics, settled for a bronze medal after suffering an injury in the semi-final, while Ashish Kumar (75kg) returned without a medal.

Among the women, six-time world champion Mary Kom (51kg) clinched a silver medal in her category, while Simranjit Kaur (60kg) and Lovlina Borgahain (69kg) registered bronze medals.

As per Nieva, the Indian boxers are almost ready for the Olympics, but there are certain fine-tunings to be done before boarding the flight to Tokyo.

"Of course there are small issues to be addressed, more specific to individuals and we will do that in the few weeks remaining before the Games. I can say we are 80 per cent ready, we will sort out the remaining 20 per cent," added Santiago Nieva.