Six Indian boxers for Olympic qualifications at Kazakhstan

New Delhi: Olympic bronze medallist Vijender Singh (75 kgs) and Commonwealth Games gold medallist Paramjeet Samota (+91 kgs) are among the Indian Elite Men Boxers who are selected for Asian Continental Olympic Boxing Qualification tournament to be held at Astana, Kazakhstan from April 5-12.

Apart from Vijender and Samota, four other boxers -- Suranjoy Singh (52 kgs), Shiva Thapa (56 kgs), Sumit Sangwan (81 kgs) and Manpreet Singh (91 kgs) -- were selected on the basis of selection trials held at NS NIS, Patiala from February 24-26. In 81 kgs category, Sumit is taking the place of Dinesh Kumar, who is a World Cup bronze medallist and CWG champion. Dinesh also represented India at the Beijing Olympics. Shiva Thapa, meanwhile, has come in place of Akhil Kumar, a former CWG gold medallist and World Cup bronze medallist. Akhil has represented India twice in the Olympics. The Indian men`s boxing team will leave for Kazakhstan on April 1 in order to get acclimatised. The available quota places for London Olympics in various weight categories at the Asian Olympic Qualifying Tournament are: 52 kgs (4 places), 56 kgs (3 places), 75 kgs (4 places), 81 kgs (3 places), 91 kgs (1 place) and +91 kgs (1 place). The selection committee members who were present during the trials at Patiala included Government Observer M Venu (Dronacharya Awardee and Arjuna Awardee), Padam Bahadur Mall (Arjuna Awardee), Rajendra Prasad (Arjuna Awardee), Devarajan (Arjuna Awardee), Md Ali Qamar (Arjuna Awardee), Jitender Kumar (Arjuna Awardee), GS Sandhu (Dronacharya Awardee and Chief National Coach), BI Fernandez (Cuban Coach), Dr CK Jerath (Vice President, IABF) and Brig. PK Muralidharan Raja (Secretary General, IABF). PTI