The Second and final Boxing World Olympic Qualification tournament begins on May 24 in Bangkok,Thailand.
This event presents the last opportunity for boxers around the world to secure a quota for the Paris Olympics 2024.
A total of 51 remaining Paris 2024 Olympic quota places (23 for women and 28 for men) will be up for grabs across 13 Olympic boxing weight categories (6 for women and 7 for men).
India had previously managed to obtain 4 quota places from the Asian Games 2023,all in Womens categories,courtesy of Nikhat Zareen(50kg),Preeti(54kg),Parveen Hooda(57kg) & Lovlina Borgohain (75kg). But recent unfortunate circumstances led to the loss of the 57kg category spot,leaving India with only 3 quota places. Parveen Hooda faced a suspension on accounts of whereabouts failure, and was stripped off the Olympic Quota as well as her Asian Games medal.
Indian male boxers, much like their wrestling counterparts have underperformed, failing to win even a single quota from the Asian Games or the 1st Olympic Qualification tournament in Italy.
The 1st World Qualifier particularly was a disaster with 8 out of 9 boxers including both male & female ,facing 1st round exits. Nishant Dev was the sole bright spot who managed to reach the quota bout but felt agonisingly short in what could be called as a controversial match against Omari Jones of USA.
The dismal show had wide ranging implications, and questions were raised on the selection process of the Boxing Federation of India.The Assessment system used as the base for selection of the boxers came under heavy criticism for lack of transparency and boxing HPD Bernard Dunne was accused of favouritism.
Owing to the criticisms,HPD Dunne resigned thereafter and BFI made big changes to the team for the second world qualifier.
INDIAN TEAM FOR THE EVENT:
Mens:
Amit Panghal(51kg)
Sachin Siwach(57kg)
Abhinash Jamwal(63.5kg)
Nishant Dev(71kg)
Abhimanyu Loura(80kg)
Sanjeet (92kg)
Narender Berwal(+92kg)
Womens:
Jasmine Lamboria(57kg)
Ankushita Boro(60kg)
Arundhati Choudhary(66kg)
MENS:
Star boxer Amit Panghal made his long awaited return to the national squad for the event. He had finally been picked over Deepak Bhoria,who failed to secure the 51 kg quota in either of the 2 qualification chances that he recieved.
Amit had previously raised questions over the lack of transparency in the selection system,even moving to the court,but to no avail.
He has finally been awarded with a chance and will certainly look to capitalise on it. The 51 kg category currently is stacked for the world qualifier,with top names such as Tomoya Tsuboi(JPN),Yuberjen Martinez (COL),Roscoe Hill(USA),Martin Molina(Spain) & Kim In Kyu(KOR) not yet qualified. Amit’s path to the Olympic ticket certainly won’t be easy but one can certainly expect a boxer of Amit’s calibre to make it through.
Nishant Dev(Men’s 71kg) perhaps has the brightest chance of winning the Paris ticket among the lot. He came agonizingly close last time, and with an easier field this time, expecting Nishant to qualify.
Sachin Siwach replaced World championship bronze medallist Mohammad Hussamuddin in the men’s 57 kg category. Earlier this year, he put up an impressive show winning gold at the Strandja memorial tournament and along with Sanjeet(92 kg),will be the dark horse for India at the event.
Abhinash Jamwal replaced veteran Shiva Thapa in the men’s 63.5kg, while Abhimanyu replaced Lakshya Chahar in the men’s 80kg category.Not much hopes in these categories baring any significant upsets, though it will be a good learning experience for the boxers hopefully. Narender Berwal retained his spot in the Super heavyweight category (+92kg). The Asian games bronze medallist will need a good draw to be able to make it to and through the quota round.
WOMENS
Arundhati Chaudhary is back in the women’s 66 kg category replacing Ankushita Boro. She is undoubtedly the best Indian in her categoy, and perhaps has the brightest chance to seal the Olympic spot among the womens. She put up a strong showing at the Strandja memorial 2024,winning silver in a valiant effort against world champion Yang Liu. Expecting a good performance this time as well.
With Arundhati back in the 66 kg,Ankushita Boro has been pushed down to the 60 kg category replacing Jasmine Lamboria, who moved down to 57kg.Jasmine was earlier not slated to participate in Thailand, but was included in the team recently, when Parveen Hooda lost her quota due to suspension.
QUOTAS AVAILABLE:
Mens:
51kg-4
57kg-3
63.5kg-5
71kg-5
80kg-3
92kg-4
+92kg-4
Womens:
57kg-4
60kg-3
66kg-4
Note: The number of quotas in a certain category can go up due to host country quota reallocation.
LIVE STREAMING: Live streaming of the event will be available on the official Olympics website Olympics.com
