Despite the absence of most of the big names of Indian boxing, keen competition is on the cards as Railways gets set to defend its team title in the 59th senior national boxing championship for men, which is to begin at the Lal Bahadur stadium from Tuesday.
The main challenge will obviously come from its arch rival — the strong Services outfit — while boxers from All India Police, Steel Plants, Haryana, and Manipur could come up with an upset or two.
Jaydev Bisht, coach of Indian Railways, sounded confident on the eve of the tournament. “We are here to win the title once again and prove we are second to none. I have great hopes from Commonwealth Games bronze medallist Amandeep Singh in 49 kgs, multiple times national champion Dilbagh Singh in 69 kgs, Kuldeep Singh in 75 kgs and Jasbir Singh in 91 kgs. Olympian Manoj Kumar has not come because he is not fit,” said Bisht.
But if the railways boxers are raring to go, their biggest rivals Services are also confident of putting up a good show.
Services coach Narendra Rana says he is sure of a medal from heavyweight Manpreet Singh, a product of the Army Sports Institute who had won a silver in the Asian games in Guangzhou.
“Besides Manpreet, we also have other good boxers like Santosh Kumar in 64 kgs and Nanao Singh who had won a gold in the Youth World Amateur boxing championship in 2008. Nanao too is a product of the Army Sports Institute and he also got a gold in the Commonwealth Youth Games. He is one of the best boxers in the country now,” said Rana.
The Andhra Pradesh team coach Omkar Yadav rested his hopes on K. Sagar (light flyweight), I.M. Ashok (light welterweight), Sardar Bhaginder Singh (heavyweight) and Trivikram Dev (super heavyweight).
“We have trained very hard and I am sure our performance will be much better than it was the last time,” said Yadav.
Dronacharya awardee national coach G.S. Sandhu also felt that competition would be very tough.
“Boxing is a major sport in India now and we are producing so many good boxers. It is very difficult to predict anything about who will be the winner or which team will get more medals,” he said.
“I have high hopes that boxers like Chotelal Yadav, Sumeet Sangwan and Jasbir Singh will give very good performances. They are very talented boxers and have trained well,” said Sandhu.
“There are several good teams here — not just Railways and Services,” he clarified. “Haryana has some very good boxers. Then states like Manipur cannot be ruled out. All India Police and Steel Plants have produced good boxers in the past and they continue to do so even now. So we really cannot make any prediction about which team will emerge as the best,” he said.
