Shiva Thapa and Lovlina Borgohain to lead India's campaign at Asian Boxing Championships 2022
(Twitter)
The 25-member Indian squad will compete at the Asian Boxing Championships 2022 in Amman, Jordan, with bronze medalist from the Tokyo 2020 Games Lovlina Borgohain and Shiva Thapa as the main bets. To make the team, both boxers triumphed in their separate trials at the NIS Patiala last week.
From October 30 to November 12, the Asian Championships will take place. World champion Nikhat Zareen will skip the continental championship, along with fellow gold medalists at the Commonwealth Games Amit Panghal and Nitu Ghanghas.
After a hard season, Nikhat Zareen and Amit Panghal decided to take a holiday, but Nitu Ghanghas is recovering from a shoulder injury. Medalists for the 2022 Commonwealth Games Rohit Tokas and Sagar Ahlawat both opted out of the trials.
With five medals, Shiva Thapa is India's most successful male boxer in the Asian championships. He will participate in the men's 63.5kg division. The two-time Olympian took home gold in 2013 as well as bronze in 2015, 2019 and 2021.
Meanwhile, Lovlina Borgohain will attempt to redeem herself after a poor 2022 season. The Commonwealth Games and world championships earlier this year did not result in a medal for the Olympic medalist.
As the upcoming Olympics won't have her welterweight 69kg classification, Borgohain, who returned from the last edition with a bronze medal, will compete in the 75kg weight class rather than her preferred 69/70kg class.
The women's squad also includes youth world boxing champion Alfiya Pathan and world championship bronze medalist Parveen Hooda (63 kg). Mohammad Hussamuddin (men's 57 kg), a two-time Commonwealth bronze medalist, was also selected for the team. In all, 13 men and 12 women have been chosen for the Indian boxing team competing in the Asian championships.
India took home 15 medals at the last continental competition, which featured two gold, five silver, and eight bronze. The gold medal winners were Pooja Rani (women's 75 kg) and Sanjeet Kumar (men's 91 kg).
INDIA SQUAD
Men: Govind Sahani (48kg), Sparsh Kumar (51kg), Sachin (54kg), Md. Hussamuddin (57kg), Etash Khan (60kg), Shiva Thapa (63.5kg), Amit Kumar (67kg), Sachin (71kg), Sumit (75kg), Lakshya (80kg), Kapil (86kg), Naveen (92kg), Narender (+92kg).
Women: Monika (48kg), Savita (50kg), Minakshi (52kg), Sakshi (54kg), Preeti (57kg), Simranjit (60kg), Parveen (63kg), Ankushita Boro (66kg), Pooja (70kg), Lovlina Borgohain (75kg), Saweety (81kg), Alfiya Pathan (+81kg).       Â
