World championships medalists Deepak Bhoria (51kg) and Nishant Dev (71kg), former Asian champion Sanjeet (92kg), Worlds medallist Parveen Hooda (57kg) and World youth champion Arundhati Choudhary (66kg) came up with impressive performances to make it to the Indian boxing team for the upcoming Hangzhou Asian Games.
Following assessment and evaluation conducted by high performance director Bernard Dunne, foreign coach Dmitry Dmitruk and men’s head coach C.A. Kuttappa, a 13-member team, including World champions Nikhat Zareen and Lovlina Borgohain (who got direct entries), was finalised.
Bhoria staved off a strong challenge from World silver medallist Amit Panghal.
Sachin Siwach Jr., a World youth champion, was chosen ahead of Rohit Mor and Worlds bronze medallist Akash Kumar in 57kg. Multiple Asian medallist Shiva Thapa (63.5kg) saw off Abinash Jamwal and Worlds medallist Manish Kaushik.
Nishant (605 points), who was trailing initially, fought back to beat two strong opponents, Sumit Kundu (596) and Nikhil Dubey (593).
The young Lakshay Chahar (80kg), having recovered from injuries, fared well to be selected over Olympian Ashish Kumar. Worlds medallist Vikas Krishan was ruled out due to a left bicep tendon injury during his sparring with Chahar on June 23. He underwent a surgery.
Sanjeet got back his touch to get selected ahead of two tough boxers, Harsh Chaudhary and Naveen Kumar.
Narender Berwal (578) underlined his worth against Commonwealth Games silver medallist Sagar Ahlawat (558) and Olympian Satish Kumar (553).
The promising Preeti Sai Pawar (642) asserted her class in 54kg against World champion Nitu Ghanghas (585), who made a big leap from 48kg.
Coming down to a lower weight, Parveen dispatched Worlds bronze medallist Manisha Moun. Commonwealth Games medallist Jaismine Lomboriya (60kg) again got the better of Worlds medallist Simranjit Kaur.
Power-puncher Arundhati, who made a drastic shift from 75kg to 66kg, proved herself against Ankushita Boro and Manju Bamboriya, who got injured during the assessment.
The selected boxers:
Men: Deepak Bhoria (51kg), Sachin Siwach Jr. (57kg), Shiva Thapa (63.5kg), Nishant Dev (71kg), Lakshya Chahar (80kg), Sanjeet (92kg), Narender Berwal (+92kg).
Women: Nikhat Zareen (50kg), Preeti Sai Pawar (54kg), Parveen Hooda (57kg), Jaismine Lamboria (60kg), Arundhati Choudhary (66kg), Lovlina Borgohain (75kg).
