Boxers face weighty problems

After a harrowing day,which involved waiting up to four hours to collect their accreditation cards at the Olympic Bhawan.

After a harrowing day,which involved waiting up to four hours to collect their accreditation cards at the Olympic Bhawan,the Indian boxers got down to business at the Talkatora Stadium,the home of boxing during these Commonwealth Games.

Ten boxers arrived for their first practice session on Sunday afternoon after checking-in at the Games Village late on Saturday. However,it wasnt the best outing for these boxers because they werent able to spar with those in the same weight category.

This is because the core group of boxers are still in Patiala and only those participating in the Commonwealth Games are here. The core group includes three members of the Asian Games team Chote Lal Yadav,Santosh Kumar and Vikas Kishan.

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During the Commonwealth Boxing Championships in March,the core group was brought to Delhi and most practice sessions involved boxers sparring with those in the same weight category.

When a boxer trains against another boxer who is not in the same weight category it can upset his rhythm. This is not an ideal scenario but there is not much we can do, one of the coaching staff said on Sunday.

Dilbaug Singh (69kg),Manoj Kumar (64) and Manpreet Singh (91) are three of the boxers who have a point to prove. All three of them failed to win a medal at the Commonwealth Boxing Championships in March.

I want to make up for the disappointment of not getting a medal at the Commonwealth championships, Dilbaug said.

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On Sunday Vijender Singh (75) trained with Dinesh Kumar (81),2006 Commonwealth gold medalist Akhil Kumar (56) trained with 2009 Asian silver medalist Jai Bhagwan (60).

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