Suranjoy hopes for good start at Presidents Cup

The last time Asian Boxing Championship gold medallist Suranjoy Singh took part in an international event,the 24-year-old lost to Mongolias Myambayar Tugstsogt in the first round of the World Championships in Milan. As he prepares to travel to Baku,Azerbaijan with the Asian team for the Presidents Cup next week,Suranjoy will be hoping to make a fine start to his campaign in the company of Myambayar,who went on to win a silver medal at the worlds. The Indian will be accompanied by Nanao Singh,who won a silver medal at the Asian Boxing Championships. Eight continental teams have been invited for the second edition of the tournament,in which the final squads will be formed a day before it begins with two teams each from Asia,America and Europe and one each from Africa and Oceania. The AIBA executive committee has introduced a new competition format featuring Confederation teams this year after the inaugural edition was held in Chinese Taipei in 2008.

The Presidents Cup will be a huge opportunity for us before the SAAF Games and 2010 Commonwealth Games. Seven medallists from the World Championships will be taking part,which means the competition will be tough, said Singh. AIBA had invited four Indian boxers for the annual event but Olympic bronze medallist Vijender Singh and Dinesh Kumar have been forced to sit out due to injury. Vijender is healing from a wrist injury while Dinesh has not recovered from a fracture.

Huge diversity

This also happens to be one of the tournaments which will see us competing in the present format of categories before we shift to the new ones. The fact that not more than three boxers from the same country will be on the same team means there will be a huge diversity in the draws. The Russians and Cubans will be a big challenge for us,apart from boxers from Mexico and Ireland, said Suranjoy,who will be competing in the light flyweight category (51kg).

World youth champion Nanao will compete in the 48 kg category and is hoping to end the disappointment of losing in the second round of the world championships. The dismal performance at the WBC hurt our chances of getting picked up for a World Series of Boxing franchise and a good performance in this event will surely help us in getting their attention before the final selection next year, said Nanao.