Report | BFI to conduct trials for women boxers after World Championship gets postponed
A file image of boxer Arundhati.
|(PTI)
After AIBA postponed women's World Championship in Istanbul till March 2022, BFI will hold trials to pick the team, as per a report in PTI. While the tournament was originally slated to be held from December 4, the world body decided to postpone it keeping in mind the increasing Covid-19 cases.
"The national camp is set to be delayed a little bit because of this development and now trials across weight categories are certain because of the huge time gap of four months. We have to take stock of the fitness of the boxers also, so it is only logical that trials will be held closer to the tournament," a top source in the national federation told PTI.
"Also, the women boxers will travel outside to prepare because it is not just the worlds we are talking about. Next year also has the Commonwealth and Asian Games," he added.
When the BFI had announced earlier, that Tokyo bronze medalist Lovlina Borgohain was going to get a direct entry into the championship, it had created a major controversy, as the reigning champion in the 70kg category, Arundhati Choudhary, was being denied a chance to participate. Now with the delay, both the players are set to get a fair chance, and so will Mary Kom, since she had opted out of the Nationals.
Just like the men's world championship, the women's event will also have prize money for the first time ever. The AIBA has announced a prize money fund of USD 2.4 million for medal winners across 12 weight categories. The prize for first place has been kept USD 100 000. The silver-medallists would receive USD 50,000 and both bronze winners in each weight category would be richer by USD 25,000. In July, AIBA increased the women's weight categories from 10 to 12. The new divisions are 48kg, 50kg, 52kg, 54kg, 57kg, 60kg, 63kg, 66kg, 70kg, 75kg, 81kg, and +81kg.
