International stars join Vijender, Akhil in Indian franchise

Vijender Singh and Akhil Kumar will be joined by international heavyweights like Roman Kapitonenko of Ukraine and Olympic bronze winner Bahodirjon Sultonov in the Indian team for the World Series of Boxing this November.

New Delhi: Home-grown stars Vijender Singh and Akhil Kumar will be joined by international heavyweights

like World Championship silver medallist Roman Kapitonenko of Ukraine and Olympic bronze winner Bahodirjon Sultonov in the Indian team for the World Series of Boxing this November. Kapitonenko and Sultonov were among the nine international boxers that the team signed up at an auction held in London yesterday. The Delhi franchise has already signed up five Indians -- Olympic bronze medallist Vijender Singh, Commonwealth games gold medallist Akhil Kumar, Commonwealth champions Jai Bhagwan and Dinesh Kumar and Olympic quarter-finalist Jitender Kumar -- for the professional-style event scheduled to start from November 19. Though the franchise, owned by electronics goods giant Videocon, is yet to make a formal announcement, the team signed up nine more at the international auction held in London yesterday. Prominent among them are Sultonov, Ukrainian super-heavyweight prospect Roman Kapitonenko and Beijing Olympics semi-finalist Abdelhafid Benchabla of Algeria, the International Boxing Association (AIBA) said in a statement. The International Boxer Draft allowed the 12 WSB teams to select from a pool of 175 boxers from 64 countries to complete their squads of national boxers. Under WSB rules, each team must comprise a minimum of three foreign boxers in the five weight classes (54kg, 61kg, 73kg, 85kg, 91+kg). PTI