Harpal Singh Bedi / New Delhi
A 51-member strong boxing squad will represent India at the ASBC Asian Youth & Junior Boxing Championships scheduled in Dubai from August 20 to 31.
It will be the first time that the two age groups—the junior and the youth—will be playing together at the Asian Championships.
The youth men’s and women’s teams comprise of 13 and 12 boxers as the event will be played as per the AIBA’s newly-introduced weight classifications. However, 26 boxers,(13 boys, 13 girls) will take part in the junior events.
The 2019 Asian Schoolboy Championships gold medallist Yashwardhan Singh (60kg), Rohit Chamoli (48kg), Usman Mohd Sultan (50kg), Anshul (57 kg), Preet Malik (63 kg), Ankush (66kg), Gaurav Saini (70kg), Naksh Beniwal (75kg) and Rishab Singh (81kg) will open the Indian challenge in the junior boys category on the opening day of the competition.
The 2021 Youth World Championships bronze medalist Bishwamitra Chongathm (51kg) will spearhead the youth men’s team while Uttarakhand’s Nivedita Karki (48kg), who stunned the world champion Gitika to win gold at the Nationals, will lead the challenge in the women’s section.
Two-time Khelo India champion Haryana’s Mahi Raghav (63kg) and Yashwardhan will spearhead country’s campaign in the Junior girls’ and boys’ categories respectively.
The gold medalists in the youth age group will receive prize money of USD 6,000 while silver and bronze medalists ae assured of USD 3,000 and USD 1,500 respectively. The junior champions will be awarded with USD 4,000 and, USD 2,000 and 1,000 for silver and bronze medalists respectively.
The Championships will provide the much-needed competitive tournament to the promising young talents at the Asian level after a gap of almost two years lost due to pandemic.
The continental event is likely to witness a thrilling action in the presence of pugilists from strong boxing nations like Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan and Kyrgyzstan to name a few.