Asian Championship: The Indian men’s and women’s challenges at the Asian Boxing Championship will be led by veteran Shiva Thapa and bronze medalist Lovlina Borgohain, respectively. The regional showcase’s selection trials, which were held at NIS Patiala from Thursday to Saturday, were for the competition that will be held in Amman, Jordan from October 30 to November 12. Amit Panghal, the three-time Asian Championship medalist, Nikhat Zareen, the defending world champion, and the medalists from the Birmingham Commonwealth Games, Rohit Tokas and Sagar Ahlawat, skipped the trials.
A Boxing Federation of India (BFI) source informed PTI that Panghal, Tokas, and Ahlawat are recovering from ailments while Zareen has opted out of the competition to seek some much-needed relaxation.
Thapa has won five medals in Asia. He won a gold, two silver, and the same number of bronze medals.
He became the most successful Indian male boxer in the history of the competition when, in the most recent edition, he won a silver medal at the prestigious competition for the fifth time in a row.
Vassiliy Levit, a legendary Kazakh wrestler who won two world bronze medals and an Olympic silver medal, is the only other male grappler with five Asian championship medals.
The other notable name on the men’s team is Md. Hussamuddin (57 kg), a two-time Commonwealth bronze medalist.
After competing in two disappointing competitions, the World Championships and the Commonwealth Games, Borgohain will be out to make a statement.
The 24-year-old, who won a bronze medal in the previous competition, will start training for the Paris Olympics, which won’t have her welterweight 69kg division, by participating in the 75kg weight class.
Parveen Hooda (63 kg), bronze medalist in the world championships, and Alfiya Pathan, champion of the Youth World Boxing, are also members of the women’s team.
The Indian team will likely fly out to Amman in the middle of October for a 15-day training camp before the competition.
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