Picture Credit: Twitter/BFI
In a significant development, Indian boxing contingent has departed for Jordanstown, Northern Ireland on Sunday (July 10) to train at a two-week long preparatory camp ahead of the upcoming Commonwealth Games 2022. A quality 12-member boxing contingent will be spearheaded by Olympic bronze medalist Lovlina Borgohain, world champion Nikhat Zareen and five-time Asian medalist Shiva Thapa.
Apart from eight male boxers, the government has also cleared a six-member support staff, including three coaches, Narendra Rana, Lalit Prasad and DS Yadav, who will coach the men's team. Indian boxers will then leave for Birmingham on July 24, where CWG will kick start from July 28 and August 8. Earlier, the Sports Authority of India sanctioned the trip for all CWG bound Indian boxers for an international training camp in the Republic of Ireland from July 10 to 24.
Coaches Bhaskar Chandra Bhatt, Pranamika Borah, and Mahavir Singh, along with physiotherapists, masseuses, strength and conditioning experts, and sports scientists will accompany the female boxers to the camp. Meanwhile, Haryana based super heavyweight boxer Sagar Ahlawat's trip to Northern Ireland has been delayed due to visa issues. As per reports, Sagar who was supposed to join the Indian contingent at Delhi's IGI airport, will now join the team in couple of days after the processing of his visa. Notably, Sagar will make his debut at international stage at Commonwealth Games.
"This delay is probably because the 20-year-old is travelling to abroad for the first time, so his visa application is taking time. He is expected to fly out either by Monday or Tuesday," claimed a source-based report. In CWG trials, Sagar had defeated his idol Satish Kumar and then beat national champion Narender to secure his berth to Birmingham.
Meanwhile, the rest of the Indian boxing contingent for the CWG left for Jordanstown in Northern Ireland on Sunday for a two-week long multi-national preparatory camp. Notably, Indian boxers delivered their best performance in 2018 edition of the Games when they bagged three golds, three silver and three bronze medals at the quadrennial event.