Shiva, Gaurav out; Mary Kom, Vikas Krishnan in
World medallists Gaurav Bidhuri and Shiva Thapa were the notable omissions, while the likes of M C Mary Kom and Vikas Krishan were picked in India’s boxing squad for the Commonwealth Games, selected for the first time without conventional trials, on Wednesday.
Three-time Asian medallist and 2015 world championship bronze-winner Shiva made way for national champion and India Open gold-medallist Manish Kaushik in the lightweight 60kg category.
Shiva and Manish have faced off twice so far, national championship final and India Open semi-final, with the latter winning on both occasions.
In the bantamweight (56kg) category, Bidhuri, out of action since his world championship bronze in August last year owing to a back injury but fit now, has been left out for Mohammed Hussamuddin, who won a bronze medal at the recent Strandja Memorial Tournament in Bulgaria.
Trials will only be held for male boxers in the 91kg and 52kg categories on March 1 and 4 respectively, while among the women, world silver-medallist Sarjubala Devi’s name in the 51kg division will be sent based on her performance in a competition trip to Kazakhstan starting March 2.
The criteria for selection of the rest of the squad was a points system put in place before the men’s National Championships last year in October.
The boxers were marked for their performances leading up to the Strandja Memorial earlier this month. But surprisingly, they were made aware of this selection process only in January.
“There was no briefing to explain the selection process or the points system. Nobody had a clear idea what is at stake,” a top official said.
In the men’s 49kg category, Amit Panghal has got the selectors’ nod based on his gold medal winning show at the India Open and the Strandja Memorial, while in the 75kg division, world bronzemedallist Vikas Krishan has pipped Mandeep Jangra.
Vikas has been selected on the basis of his twin feats of a gold medal and best boxer trophy at the Strandja Memorial despite being behind Mandeep in the points system. Vikas’ points tally had suffered due to his injuryforced absence from the Nationals as well as the India Open.