Nationals must for Games selection

Indian boxers hoping to participate in the Commonwealth Games will have to compete in the National Championship,the Federation...

Indian boxers hoping to participate in the Commonwealth Games will have to compete in the National Championship,the Federation said after its Executive Board meeting on Monday. The Indian Boxing Federation said barring a few exceptional cases,only the participants of the Nationals would be eligible for the trials of the Commonwealth Games.

The decision means that stars like Olympic bronze medallist Vijender Singh 75kg,Commonwealth Games gold medallist Akhil Kumar 57kg,Commonwealth champions Jai Bhagwan 60kg and Dinesh Kumar 81kg will have to take the ring at the Nationals scheduled in July.

All the 44 boxers in the core group for Games will have to participate in the National Championship. Participation is compulsory and unless somebody is medically unfit,there would be no relaxation, IBF secretary general P K Muralidharan Raja told reporters here. Its not that you have to win a medal in the Nationals to be eligible for CWG trials but participation is compulsory.

Raja said the team would be finalised a month ahead of the mega event. By September first week,there would be a selection trial and the team would be picked. The boxers performance at the ongoing national camps would also be taken into account, he added.

The Nationals would feature the new weight categories approved by the International Boxing Association AIBA last year. This means,light fly weight now stands at 49kg and fly weight at 52 kg 8212; both the categories going up a kilogram each.

With the feather weight category abolished,the bantam weight has been revised from 54kg to 56kg. The new bantam weight creates a clash among boxers in the same departmental teams. For instance,South Asian Games gold medallist Chhote Lal Yadav and S Santhosh both come from the Services team,which will now have to pick among the two.

Similarly,Akhil and his prodigy Jitender Kumar now fall in the bantam weight division and they are both employed with the All India Police. Given the clash,the IBF said those who did not make the cut in their departmental teams will still have a chance to take part in the trials. In such a scenario the department will take the pick,the boxer cant help it. So he will be allowed to take part in the trials, Col Raja said.