New Delhi: Indian boxing contingent has started to practice for the upcoming Commonwealth Games just as they arrived in Birmingham, the host city. The contingent comprises 12 boxers, four women and eight men. The women’s contingent includes the Tokyo Olympics bronze medallist Lovlina Borgohain, who will be looking for gold at the CWG this time.
Indian boxers Amit Panghal, Ashish Kumar Chaudhary, Sanjeet, and Mohammad Hussamuddin were seen shadow boxing. Then they were being trained by one of the boxing coaches Dharmendra Singh Yadav who was helping them do pad work. The men’s boxing coach Narendra Rana told that the preparations are going well and all eight boxers are training hard. He added that the experience under the Boxing Federation of India (BFI), Sports Authority of India (SAI), and Netaji Subhas National Institute of Sports (NIS) Patiala, where a coaching camp was organized amidst COVID-19 restrictions, was amazing.
Just before the games, the Indian boxers went to Belfast, Northern Ireland, to train and adapt to the climatic conditions, which will be similar to that in Birmingham. The boxers trained there for 13 days.
India’s Olympic star Lovlina was seen doing shadow boxing and doing gym sessions under women’s head coach Bhaskar Bhatt. Meanwhile, her coach Sandhya Gurung got accreditation for the Commonwealth Games 2022 by the authorities. The reigning world champion Nikhat Zareen did intense skipping exercises during the training session and Jasmine did some intense shadow boxing.
The coaching and the support staff have high hopes this time. “Commonwealth Games is a major tournament. We have been preparing for a long time now. BFI and the government have fully cooperated. We can expect many medals this time. Last time we had nine medals out of 12, hope to get more and more gold medals this time,” Dharmendra Yadav told ANI.
In the 2018 Commonwealth Games, India won nine medals in boxing, including three gold medals. This year, India’s boxing campaign will begin on July 29 with finals to be played on August 7.
