5th Elite Women’s National Boxing in Hisar from today, Simranjit and Pooja Rani among the big names
Simranjit Kaur, who won a bronze medal at the 2018 World Championships, and reigning Asian champion Pooja Rani, along with several other prominent boxers clinched the title in the 5th Elite Women’s National Boxing Championships, beginning Thursday at St. Joseph’s International School in Hisar, Haryana. Contenders included.
More than 320 boxers from 36 states, union territories and boards across the country are participating in the prestigious tournament being organized in association with Haryana Boxing Federation. Simranjit Kaur (60kg) of Punjab and Pooja Rani (81kg) of Haryana. Apart from this, Jamuna Boro (54kg), who won a bronze medal at the 2019 World Boxing Championships, defending champion Pavilao Basumatari (60kg) and Asian Championships bronze medalist Jasmine (60kg) can be seen competing for the title.
The tournament, to be played till October 27, will also see defending youth world champions Babyrojisana Norem (54kg) of Manipur, Sanmacha Thokchom (75kg) and Arundhati Choudhury (70kg) of Rajasthan in action.
This is the sixth national championship being organized by the Boxing Federation of India (BFI) since the resumption of the domestic circuit after the COVID-19 pandemic. Earlier BFI has successfully organized Junior, Youth and Men’s National Championships.
The opening ceremony of the tournament will be held on Thursday in which the Deputy Commissioner Hisar Dr. Priyanka Soni will be the chief guest. BFI General Secretary Hemant Kumar Kalita and Treasurer Digvijay Singh will also attend the function.
The championship will be played according to the 12 weight categories of AIBA, the global regulatory body of boxing. These weight classes are 48 kg, 50 kg, 52 kg, 54 kg, 57 kg, 60 kg, 63 kg, 66 kg, 70 kg, 75 kg, 81 kg and +81 kg.
The gold and silver medalists of this championship will earn a place in the national coaching camp. The remaining two names for the camp in each category will be selected on the basis of their performance in the selection trial, which will be held immediately after the competition. In the Trials, the bronze medalists will compete with boxers representing the other team from the previous National Championship-Railway Sports Promotion Board (RSPB), top-3 teams from Haryana and All India Police.
In the previous edition of the championship held in Kannur, Kerala in the year 2019, Railway Sports Promotion Board won the team championship title with six gold medals, while Haryana was the runner-up.