IBA Men's World Boxing: Shiva, Deepak to lead 13-member Indian squad

Six-time Asian Championships medallist Shiva Thapa and 2019 Asian Championships silver medallist Deepak Bhoria will headline the Indian squad for the upcoming IBA Men's World Boxing Championships to be held in Tashkent, Uzbekistan from April 30 to May 14.

Shiva, who won a World Championships bronze medal in Doha, Qatar in 2015 will be looking to add another medal to his name. He will be representing the country in the 63.5 kg category.

Deepak, who has been one of the most improved and developed boxers in recent times, will be shouldering the country's hopes in the 51kg Flyweight category. Sources told IANS that he has been selected ahead of 2019 World Boxing silver medalist Amit Panghal, as per the evaluation scores.

Deepak announced himself on the global stage in 2021 when he defeated the 2016 Rio Olympic gold medallist and 2019 World Champion Shakhobidin Zoirov of Uzbekistan at the Strandja Memorial tournament.

"Men's team have been working extremely hard and I wish them all the best. I am confident each one of them will make the country proud. We had recently witnessed the Indian Women boxers giving one of the best medal haul of all time at the Delhi World Championship and I hope our boys will make us proud once again at the IBA Men's World Boxing Championships." said Ajay Singh, president of the Boxing Federation of India (BFI).

The Championship will also feature seven defending World Champions including Sofiane Oumiha from France, Japan's Tomoya Tsuboi and Sewonrets Okazawa, Loren Alfonso from Azerbaijan, Saken Bibossinov from Kazakhstan and Cuba's Yoenlis Hernandez Martinez and Julio La Cruz.

The Indian team will also have experienced campaigner and 2022 Asian Championships bronze medallist Mohammad Hussamuddin. He will box in the highly competitive 57 kg category at the showpiece event.

The Tashkent Championships have already seen a registration of around 640 boxers from 104 countries.

Tokyo OIympian and 2019 Asian Championships silver medallist Ashish Chaudhary will also be representing the country at the prestigious event for the second time and would be keen to add another major medal to his name.

Govind Sahani, who recently won a silver medal at the strandja memorial boxing tournament will be showing his skills in the 48kg category. Meanwhile, 2021 World Youth Champion Sachin Siwach will be representing India at the 54kg bantamweight category. He will be eager to continue his impressive form to add to his medal tally.

Young pugilists Varinder Singh (60kg), Akash Sangwan (67kg), Nishant Dev (71kg) and Sumit Kundu (75kg), who had won the gold medal at the National Championships earlier this year will be donning the Indian jersey in their respective categories. The quartet had represented the country at the 2021 World championships and will be looking to use the experience to be among the medal winners this time. Harsh Choudhary, who hails from Rajasthan will be making his debut at the World Championships in the 86 kg category while National Champions Naveen Kumar and Narender Berwal will be seen fighting in the 92kg and 92+kg respectively. The gold medalists will walk away with a prize money of USD 200,000.The silver medallists are to be given USD 100,000, and both bronze-medallists will be awarded USD 50,000 each.

The Indian team will leave for Tashkent on April 17 as they will attend a multi-nation training camp before the World Championships. In the seven Olympic weight categories- 51kg, 57kg, 63.5kg, 71kg, 80kg, 92kg and 92+kg, two boxers each will participate in the training camp. Squad: Govind Sahani (48kg), Deepak Bhoria (51kg), Sachin Siwach (54kg), Mohammad Hussamuddin (57kg), Varinder Singh (60kg), Shiva Thapa (63.5kg), Akash Sangwan (67kg), Nishant Dev (71kg), Sumit Kundu (75kg), Ashish Chaudhary (80kg), Harsh Choudhary (86kg), Naveen Kumar (92kg) and Narender Berwal (92+kg).