India boxers’ training trip to USA cancelled due to visa complications

The India boxers’ squad, consisting of Gaurav Bhiduri, Shiva Thapa, Manoj Kumar, Sumit Sangwan, Vikas Krishan, had a planned training trip to the USA but that has gotten cancelled because of visa complications.

The Indian boxers’ first planned training trip to the USA has been cancelled owing to visa related complications.

Vikas Krishan and Shiv Thapa were part of the Indian boxing program to visit the The Michael Johnson Performance center in the USA for training but that has gotten cancelled due to visa complications. (REUTERS)

Seven Indian male boxers were to travel to the USA for a 10-day training at the acclaimed Michael Johnson Performance Centre in Texas early next month. However, the trip has been put of for now after visas did not come through in time.

“The Sports Authority of India had cleared everything but we realised that we won’t get the visas in time. So the trip had to be cancelled. Tremendous disappointment but hopefully we can plan it later,” India’s High Performance Director Santiago Nieva told PTI.

The squad picked for the trip comprised those who participated at this year’s World Championships in Hamburg, Germany.

So, Hamburg bronze-medallist Gaurav Bidhuri (56kg), three-time Asian medallist Shiva Thapa (60kg), former CWG gold-medallist Manoj Kumar (69kg), Amit Panghal (49kg), Kavinder Bisht (52kg), Sumit Sangwan (91kg) and Vikas Krishan (75kg) had been selected.

The Michael Johnson Performance center is much sought after among top athletes and specialises in performance training, physical therapy, bio-mechanical assessments and nutrition consultation.