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World Boxing Championships: India men's boxers have a lot to prove
A 13-member India team will compete in the premier tournament to be held in Tashkent from Monday.
The Indian men’s boxers will have a tough test at hand at the World Championships starting in Tashkent from Monday. The men’s team has not really fired in major tournaments of late and returned with only one medal from the previous world championships in 2021.
The team selected by high-performance director Bernard Dunne on evaluation during the three-week national camp has experienced campaigners who are expected to come good in the year of the Huangzhou Asian Games and Paris Olympics qualification. The three lower Olympic weight categories have Deepak Bhoria (51kg), Mohammad Hussamuddin (57kg) and Shiva Thapa (63.5kg).
While Bhoria is a surprise selection over Commonwealth Games gold medallist Amit Panghal, there is no doubt about his quality. The 25-year-old has scored big upsets in the past, but his career had not taken off due to injuries. He returned to the camp in January after a long rehabilitation for a shoulder injury and was soon giving a tough fight to Panghal.
His form is evident from the scores in the evaluation process where he pipped Panghal, 731 to 682 points. At the CWG trials, the fight between Bhoria and Panghal was close but the latter edged past, going on to win gold in Birmingham.
Dunne’s new evaluation process has kept the boxers on their toes as past achievements are not factored in.
In featherweight, Hussamuddin has never looked so good, but it is time he stamped his class on the big stage. Medals at the Commonwealth Games and Asian Championships last year should whet his appetite. Hussamuddin has added an attacking flair to go with his technical boxing abilities.
The quest for an Olympic medal keeps driving Shiva Thapa. The fire within has been rekindled and the 29-year-old knows Paris could be one final opportunity to realise his dream. The journey towards that will begin in Tashkent as a medal will seal his berth for the Asian Games, which is a qualifier for Paris.
At home, Thapa has settled his rivalry with Tokyo Olympian Manish Kaushik, the 2019 world championships bronze medallist. He comfortably beat him in the national championships and finished way ahead of him in the evaluation process – 728 points to 643. At Asian level, Thapa has proved himself time and again. He is a six-time Asian championships medallist. But his only world championships medal was bronze in 2015.
Tokyo OIympian and 2019 Asian Championships silver medallist Ashish Chaudhary has been fielded in 80kg while the promising Nishant Dev (71kg) and Narender Berwal (92+kg) will look to impress in Olympic weight categories.
It will also be exciting to see how Govind Sahani performs in 48kg. He has taken impressive strides, winning silver at the Strandja Memorial and bronze at the Asian championships.
The world championships takes place with the world body fighting a deep divide. Several countries withdrew from the IBA women’s world championships in New Delhi. In Tashkent, Britain, United States, Ireland, Czech Republic, Canada and Sweden will not take part. A rival international body—World Boxing – has come into existence with question marks over the sport’s Olympic future.
INDIA SQUAD
Govind Sahani (48kg), Deepak Bhoria (51kg), Sachin Siwach (54kg), Mohammad Hussamuddin (57kg), Varinder Singh (60kg), Shiva Thapa (63.5kg), Akash Sangwan (67kg), Nishant Dev (71kg), Sumit Kundu (75kg), Ashish Chaudhary (80kg), Harsh Choudhary (86kg), Naveen Kumar (92kg) and Narender Berwal (92+kg).
