Australian boxers to train in India before Olympic Qualifiers

Indian boxers gearing up for Olympic qualifiers in China will be training with ir counterparts from Australia in Patiala from January 5 to 25 as part of ir preparations, national men's coach C A Kuttappa told PTI on Wednesday. Australia accepted India's invitation to train in Patiala with Indian boxers in January ahead of Olympic qualifiers in China scheduled to be held from February 3 to 14 in Wuhan, China.

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"We had invited two-three nations and Australia have confirmed that y would be here from January 5 to 25 for training and sparring. We are expecting that group will feature those who will be competing in Olympic qualifiers," Kuttappa said here after returning from South Asian Games in Nepal where Indian boxers claimed 16 medals -- 12 gold, three silver and one bronze.  

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Indian team for Olympic qualifiers will be cast in stone by end of this month. Two categories are already locked after Amit Panghal (52kg) and Manish Kaushik (63kg) claimed spots by winning medals at World Championships in Russia in September-October.  remaining six weight divisions -- 57kg, 69kg, 75kg, 81kg, 91kg, +91kg -- will be picked on basis of trials to held in last week of December. 

" travelling is being planned because we want ensure re is exhaustion before Qualifiers. Even at South Asian Games, I told boys to ensure y should remain injury-free, treat Games as more of sparring than a proper competitions," he said.

"We encountered some really rough boxers at SAG. y were fighting rashly and hats off to our boxers who handled se guys with calmness and came out unscad as well," he added. 

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Kuttappa said performances of boxers in ongoing Indian Boxing League are also being closely monitored. "Maj (Kumar) has done very well in league, he is among ones to watch out," he said. Kuttappa revealed that Sri Lankan team is also keen to be in India for a training camp. "y have been told to send across ir proposal to federation," he said. 

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