CM iugurates Men’s tiol Boxing Championship in presence of BAI officials
By our Sports Reporter
GUWAHATI, Dec 8: Olympian and local hero Shiva Thapa made a solid start in the 1st Elite (Senior) Men’s tiol Boxing Championship here today. Boosted with the support from local crowed Assam boxer cruised into the next round winning his first round bout very easily against Gumin Gara of Aruchal Pradesh.
Shiva, participated in 60 kg category, hardly faced any trouble as Gunin struggled from the very beginning of the bout. Shiva, started little cautiously, increased his aggressions as the match progressed and cornered the opponent with series of punches. Judges hardly wasted any time to declare him winner once the fight came to an end. He filly won the bout by 5–0.
Earlier Senior tiol men Boxing Championship got under way today at the Karmabir bin Chandra Bordoloi indoor stadium with a colourful opening ceremony. The meet was iugurated by Chief Minister Sarbanda Sonowal. Although 32 affiliated units initially confirmed to take part in the meet but later the number of participation team increased to 36 as few sides decided to join the competition very last minute. Around 300 boxers will now be in action in the competition which will be continued till December 13.
Sonowal while iugurating the Championship appreciated Boxing Federation of India (BFI) and Assam Amateur Boxing Association (ABA) for holding this mega sports event in the State and said that the Championship would boost Government’s effort to make Assam as the Sports Capital of the country.
He also said that during 2017 several other mega sports events will be played in Assam. “State Government will host the Himalayan Sports Festival in 2017 where 11 states of the country and several Himalayan tions will take part. Assam is also an important venue of the Under–17 FIFA World Cup Football Tourment which will be played next year.
“These events will bolster Assam’s image as emerging sports destition of India”, Sonowal said.
The BFI President Ajay Singh delivering his speech lauded the State Government’s support in successfully holding the Boxing Championship and said that the Boxing Federation would make best efforts to hold 2020 Olympic Qualifying Matches in Guwahati. Apart from Sonowal the iugural function was also attended by Sports Minister ba Kumar Doley, Chief Secretary Vinod Kumar Pipersenia, president of Boxing Federation of India Ajay Singh, President of the Assam Amateur Boxing Association Kalikanta Boro and many other officials of state government and two boxing organizations.
Meanwhile Ajay Singh, the newly elected president of the Boxing Federation of India, today revealed that his association’s prime goal is to search new talent and arrange necessary training facilities for them. Talking to the media persons at the sideline of the iugural function Singh said, “We want to produce more and more boxers in the coming days and for this it is very essential to find out the new talents. As a first part of it we will select boxers from the different tiol Boxing Championship. They will be later trained under special scientific coaching programme. We have already selected boxers from the Women tiol Boxing Championship and we will do the same thing here also.”
He also informed that there will be cash incentive for the medal winners in the tiol championship. Singh also favoured introduction of professiol boxing in India. “We have no problem if our boys and girls earned money through professiol boxing because they are still eligible to participate in the different intertiol events including Olympic.”