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Taking a step forward towards providing boxers with adequate international exposure and an opportunity to excel at the global level, the IABF recently sent a team of 10 boxers to Armenia. Following this, an eight member team will soon leave for Serbia to partake in “Belgrade Winner 2011”, an international boxing competition. The Championship will be held in Serbia from 20th to 24th April, 2011.
After the 2010 Asian Games in Guangzhou, China, this would be the second International contest that Indian boxers would participate in, first being the International Boxing Tournament held in Armenia. These competitions mark the beginning of the first phase of IABF’s preparation and groundwork for the London Olympiad next year.
National coach GS Sandhu believes the competition is going to be tough in Serbia, with European and Russian boxers making things difficult. He said, “It is not going to be easy but this tournament will provide a perfect platform to train the Indian boxers for events like the Asian and World Championships later this year and the Olympics next year”. The Dronacharya Awardee also added, “Medals are not our priority, these competitions will be a big learning curve for our boxers and I want them to return enriched with experience”.
Tournaments such as these, assume added importance in view of the fact that AIBA Men’s World Boxing Championships, slated to be held in September, will serve as the first qualifying event to the 2012 Olympics – a view echoed by Brig PK Muralidharan Raja, the Secretary General of IABF. Brig Raja said, “Participating in the international competition is the best way to prepare for the world championships and they also help us assess the top pugilists in the run up to the qualifying events”.
The IABF held selections at the 34th National Games in Jamshedpur, Jharkhand for this competition and based on the performance at the games, the 8 member squad was short listed. The selection committee at the trials comprised of Coach Sandhu, Arjuna awardees Mehtab Singh, Mohd. Ali Qamar and Gopal Devang.
Youth Olympic bronze medallist and Asian Games gold medallist Vikas Krishnan, Pramjeet Samota a gold medallist at the Commonwealth Games and a bronze medallist Asian Games last year, along with the experience for of Olympian and Asian games silver medallist Dinesh Kumar will lead the Indian Challenge to Serbia. The likes of Shiva Thapa a silver medallist at the 2010 Youth Olympics and Manpreet Singh who won the silver medal at the Asian games in China have also made a place in the squad. National Coach Jaydev Bisht and B I Fernandez the foreign coach from Cuba will be accompanying the team to Serbia. The complete squad is as follows:
| Wt Cat | Name | Unit |
| 56 KG | Shiva Thapa | SSCB |
| 60 KG | Vikas Krishnan | HAR |
| 64 KG | Manoj Kumar | RSPB |
| 69 KG | Mandeep Jangra | DEL |
| 75 KG | Kuldeep Singh | RSPB |
| 81 KG | Dinesh Kumar | AIP |
| 91 KG | Manpreet Singh | SSCB |
| 91+ KG | Paramjeet Samota | RSPB |
