Thursday 12 July 2012

London Olympics : Boxing - Key Indian Boxers

Boxing is yet another discipline where India has shown great strides in the last few years. Vijender Singh won the Bronze medal at the 2008 Beijing Olympics and created history - the first Indian boxer to get an Olympic medal.

This time around, the London bound boxing contingent - 8 boxers in all - seems promising and will look to build up on Vijender Singh's exploits in the last edition.

The following are the boxers who have qualified and will be on the plane to London:

Men's light flyweight(49kg): Devendro Singh
Men's bantamweight (56kg): Shiva Thapa
Men's lightweight (60kg): Jai Bhagwan
Men's light welterweight (64kg): Manoj Kumar
Men's welterweight (69kg): Vikas Krishan Yadav
Men's middleweight (75kg): Vijender Singh
Men's light heavyweight (81kg): Sumit Sangwan
Women's flyweight (51kg): Mary Kom

Medal Prospects


M C Mary Kom is being seen as a medal prospect based on her record in the last few years. Mary Kom, a mother of two, is a five time successive World Boxing champion, a biennial amateur boxing competition organised by the International Boxing Association (AIBA). (This is the first time in Olympics history that the women's event is being held.)
MC Mary Kom





(This video comes from YouTube)

In the men's section, Vijender Singh will lead the charge and will hope to improve his showing this time. A good showing is expected from Devendro and Jai Bhagwan too.

Meanwhile, Shiva Thapa is the youngest Indian boxer to have qualified. In 2012 Asian Olympic Qualifiers held in Astana, Kazakhstan, Shiva defeated Syria's Wessam Salamana 18-11 to clinch the gold medal and qualified for 2012 London Olympics in 56 kgs category.

All-in-all, I believe the medal hopefuls are:

MC Mary Kom
Vijendra Singh

Let's see what is the final medals-tally for Boxing at the London Olympics.

We are waiting to be surprised !!

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