Rohit Mor and Akash to begin India’s campaign at the 2021 AIBA Men’s World Boxing Championships

Rohit, who had stunned Mohammad Hussamuddin to clinch gold medal at the Elite Men’s Boxing Nationals last month, will be up against Ecuadorian pugilist Jean Caicedo, who competed in the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.

Boxers Rohit Mor and Akash will kickstart Indian challenge on the opening day as the 2021 AIBA Men’s World Boxing Championships. (Image Credit: Twitter)
By Arnab Mukherji | Oct 25, 2021 | 2 Min Read follow icon Follow Us

Boxers Rohit Mor and Akash will kickstart the Indian challenge on the opening day as the 2021 AIBA Men’s World Boxing Championships begins in Belgrade, Serbia on Monday. Rohit, who had stunned Mohammad Hussamuddin to clinch the gold medal at the Elite Men’s Boxing Nationals last month, will be up against Ecuadorian pugilist Jean Caicedo, who competed in the 2020 Tokyo Olympics. However, the 21-year-old Akash is drawn to open his campaign against Adem Fukran in the 67kg category.

The draw ceremony took place late on Sunday in which two Indian pugilists—reigning Asian champion Sanjeet (92kg) and Sachin Kumar (80) were awarded with first-round byes in their respective categories. Deepak Bhoria (51kg) will have a comparatively difficult challenge in his opening round match as he will start off against two-time Asian champion Azat Usenaliev of Kyrgyzstan on Tuesday. In-form Deepak, who claimed the senior nationals title last month, had caught many eyeballs earlier this year after defeating Olympic champion Shakhobidin Zoirov of Uzbekistan at the Strandja Memorial Tournament.

Event will witness competition between 650 top boxers

The 2015 World Championships bronze-medallist Shiva Thapa (63.5kg), Govind Kumar Sahani (48kg), Varinder Singh (60kg), Nishant Dev (71kg), Sumit (75kg), Lakshya Chahar (86kg) and Narender (+92kg) are the other boxers of the 13-member Indian contingent, who will compete at the 21st edition of the prestigious event which will go on till November 6. The event will witness competition between 650 top boxers from more than 100 participating countries from across the world. It is also the first time in history that the championships will be played in 13 weight categories as per AIBA’s newly-introduced weight divisions.

The gold medalists of each category will receive $100,000 while silver and bronze medallists will be given $50,000 and $25,000 respectively. Alongside an enormous prize pool of $2.6 million, AIBA will also award the winners with beautifully designed medals, made of solid gold and silver respectively, and belts to commemorate their accomplishments. In the last edition of the Men’s World Championships, held in 2019, the Indian contingent had concluded its campaign with two medals including one silver by Amit Panghal and a bronze claimed by Manish Kaushik.

Reigning Asian Champ Pooja Rani sails into quarters of 5th Elite Women’s National Boxing Championships on Day 4

Reigning Asian champion Pooja Rani of Haryana entered the quarterfinals of the 5th Elite Women’s National Boxing Championship in the 81 kg category in dominant fashion on Sunday, knocking out Kerala’s Parvathi P in the first round of the pre-quarters match. Such was the ferocity of Rani’s punches that the referee stopped the contest in the first round itself, on Day 4 of the tournament at the St Joseph’s International School in Hisar, the venue of the prestigious event.

Earlier on Sunday, World Youth Champions Nitu of Haryana and Ankushita Boro of Assam maintained their winning streak, as they confirmed their places in the quarter-finals in the 48kg and 66kg categories respectively. The fleet-footed Nitu outclassed her opponent Purabi Karmakar from West Bengal 5-0 in the 48kg category.