NEW DELHI: Eight of India's nine men and women boxers, who participated at the Tokyo Olympics last year, have been left out of the country's boxing squad for the Strandja Memorial tournament in Bulgaria's Sofia from February 18-28. Asian champion Pooja Rani, who too had competed in Tokyo in the women's middleweight category (75kg), may also skip the event due to a family bereavement.
This will be the first international competition for the women's boxers since the Tokyo Olympics in July-August last year and first for the men's in almost four months.
The tournament holds significance for the boxers, as the selection trials for the upcoming Women's World Championships, Birmingham CWG and Hangzhou Asian Games will take place in Patiala and Delhi, soon after the Strandja meet.
Those who aren't part of the squad, including the Tokyo-returned boxers, feel that they will be in a disadvantageous position in the trials lined up ahead. This is because the Boxing Federation of India (BFI) has decided to send only the gold winners at the two Nationals in Bellary (men's) and Hisar (women's), respectively, to the Bulgarian capital. It has resulted in the ouster of all five male boxers- Amit Panghal, Manish Kaushik, Vikas Krishan, Ashish Chaudhary and Satish Kumar - and female boxers - MC Mary Kom, Lovlina Borgohain and Simranjit Kaur - who had competed in Tokyo.
The male boxers had earlier been left out of India's squad for the m en's World Championships in Serbia's Belgrade and, from the elite national camp, owing to their non-participation at the Nationals. Mary Kom and Tokyo Olympics bronze medallist Lovlina had decided to pull out of the Hisar Nationals in October due to lack of fitness. Only Pooja and Simranjit had sent their entries for the Nationals. While Simranjit (60kg) lost in the semifinals, Pooja (81kg) clinched the gold after defeating Railways' Nupur. Her title triumph has made her the only eligible boxer out of the Tokyo boxing contingent to compete in Sofia.
