Indian boxers will head to foreign locations to practice so that they will be better equipped when they compete at the Asian Games from August 18 to September 2 in the Indonesian cities of Jakarta and Palembang. The boxers will travel to Italy, Ireland, Russia and Kazakhstan for training and invitational tournaments. They will get to train with the best of sparring partners from local boxing academies at these camps.
“The competition at the Asian Games will be tough. So the Boxing Federation of India has decided to provide them with the best of training and competition exposure. The men will be visiting the Mayo County in Ireland for a training camp from May 20 to 27. The camp will be organised by the Irish Athletic Boxing Association (IABA). The group of 10-12 members will comprise of No. 1 and No. 2 boxers in each weight category,” a BFI official said.
“The women’s team will travel to Assisi in Italy. The training camp will be organised from May 19 to June 4 and leading boxers like Mary Kom and Sarita Devi will be part of the group. This camp is also important since India will be hosting the women’s World Championships in November. After these camps, both the men and women teams will travel to Russia and Kazakhstan,” the official added. It’s been learnt that Vikas Krishan, Manoj Kumar, Satish Kumar and Shiva Thapa will straightaway participate in Russia and Kazakhstan tournaments.
