New Delhi: With 170 days left for the 2012 London Olympics to get underway, the Indian Men’s Boxing Team is gearing up to partake in its first International Tournament of the Year. A 13-member team, including ten boxers, two coaches has been selected to participate in an International Boxing Tournament in Kazakhstan. The competition will be held in Almaty, the commercial centre of Kazakhstan, from 14th Feb to 18th Feb 2012.
The tournament is a fairly small event, but boasts of teams like Russia and France apart from India and hosts Kazakhstan. All participating nations are going to field a full 10-member team. Indian Boxing Federation’s idea behind sending a team for this competition is to provide exposure to youngsters and judge their performance against a good challenge. The event will also serve as an amiable start to the Olympic year for the selected boxers who would get good match practice without too much of a pressure.
“The tournament will give the selected boys a chance to ease into international competition and also an opportunity to rub shoulders with and challenge some good boxers”, expressed Brig PK Muralidharan Raja, Secretary General of the Indian Boxing Federation. He further stated, “This is the Olympic year are our preparation will determine the kind of results we yield in London, Therefore we have to make sure the boys are match ready and grab every opportunity that we get”.
National coach GS Sandhu, who would also be travelling with the team, believes that although the event is small with limited number of teams, the competition on display promises to be good. He said, “We are not sending a full strength team, it is a mix squad. Our aim is provide the boxers with a platform that offers a favourable challenge. The event will allow us to judge our boxers’ performances and also an opportunity to study the opposition.” He added, “This competition will be a learning curve for our boxers and will help them prepare for the upcoming events”.
Super heavy weight boxer and Commonwealth Games gold medallist Paramjeet Samota will be leading the Indian charge in Almaty. The burly 23 year old, who claimed his fifth successive ‘National Title’ in December last year is in good form and looking to make amends for the first round defeat he suffered at the AIBA world Championships in Azerbaijan. He said, “Everyone is looking to secure an Olympic berth and so am I. This tournament would be a good way to start the year and prepare for the Continental Qualifying tournament which will also be held in Kazakhstan. A good performance here will certainly be a confidence booster.”
Asian games silver medallist Manpreet Singh (91kg) is also a part of 10 member team along with L Devendro Singh (49kg) who already secured an Olympic berth at the World Championships in October last year. 2010 SAF games gold medallist Chhote Lal Yadav (56kg) will also be seen in action at the event. Yadav is also taking this event as an opportunity to get good match practice under his belt. “Qualifying for the London Olympics is the main objective, but my immediate goal is to train hard and get good exposure so that I can perform well in the selection trails for the Olympic qualifying event”, expressed the service boxer.
