Junior boxers leave for Asian Championship

New Delhi: 13-member Indian junior men`s boxing team will be able to participate in the Youth Asian Boxing Championship in Subic Bay, Philippines after finally getting visas, the application for which was twice rejected by the host country.

The application was rejected by the Philippines embassy because the IABF did not provide it with some necessary documents (undertaking letters from the parents of the boxers). The scanned copies of the undertaking documents were submitted but the officials demanded the original letters, resulting in another rejection. Keeping in mind the time-consuming process, the SAI intervened and wrote to the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) to request Philippines to urgently issue the visas to the junior pugilists since they were to leave today. It was the timely intervention of the Sports Authority of India (SAI) which paved the way for their participation in the March 10-16 tournament. The SAI informed the MEA that getting original letters would be take a lot of time as the boxers were attending camp at Aurangabad (January 25 to March 8) and their parents were in different parts of India. The MEA intervened and the visas were granted. The team consists of 10 boxers, two coaches and a doctor. The team will fly tonight to Manila via Hong Kong and their flight departure is at 2315 hrs from here. For the first time, men`s senior team`s Cuban coach, Fernandez was attached to the junior pugilists in Aurangabad camp. Meanwhile, the suspended IABF Secretary General Rajesh Bhandari wanted to accompany the team but later withdrew his name as AIBA has barred any official from going with the boxers. "No officials are going with the team as per AIBA sanctions. I was accompanying the team in my individual capacity because I wanted to meet the AIBA president and discuss our suspension issue with him. I came to know that the AIBA president is coming to the tournament but now the president will come sometime later. "I`ll go to the tournament if president comes because IABF has sought appointment with the AIBA president and wants an early resolution to the issue," he told PTI. Team: Boxers: Lalitha Prasad Polipalli (49 kg), Kavinder Singh Bisht (52 kg), Aman Indora (56 kg), Nagesh Arjun Kharare (60 kg), Dinesh (64 KG), Manjeet Singh Panghal (69 kg), Sandeep (75 kg), Abhishek Beniwal (81 kg), Amritpreet Singh (91 kg), Narender (+91 kg), Manoharan Ganapathy (coach), Lalit Prasad (coach), Nirmolak Singh (doctor). PTI