BANGKOK, May 23:
Indian pugilists will be determined to overcome the recent setbacks both inside and outside the boxing ring when they aim for the last available tickets to the Olympic Games at the second World Qualification Tournament, starting here on Friday.
Up until the last qualifying event, Indian boxers had four quotas but in an unprecedented embarrassment, that number is now down to three after women’s 57kg holder Parveen Hooda was handed a 22-month ban for whereabouts failure this month.
The boxers’ performance at the previous world qualifiers in March was dismal to say the least with only 2023 world championship bronze-medallist Nishant Dev moving past the opening round.
This also triggered a coaching crisis. High Performance Director Bernard Dunne handed his resignation during the first World qualifier itself.
“From the Thailand qualifiers, we definitely hope to clinch 4-5 quota places and we are hoping for the best. This time we have a definite chance,” Indian boxing coach CA Kuttappa told SAI Media ahead of event here.
The Boxing Federation of India (BFI) has made several changes with India’s lone male world championship silver-medallist Amit Panghal finally back the mix after Deepak Bhoria failed to win a quota in the first two qualifying events in the 51kg category.
Panghal is coming off a gold-winning run at the prestigious Strandja Memorial tournament earlier this year and the 2022 Commonwealth Games. He will have only one shot at making the Olympics and the former Asian Games champion will look to make the most of it.
Abhinash Jamwal has been handed an opportunity to make the cut for his debut Olympics after the seasoned Shiva Thapa’s repeated failures in the 63.5kg weight class, which has five quotas on offer. (PTI)
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