Indians begin C'wealth Games practice in Birmingham

The Indian Boxing contingent comprising of 12 boxers which includes four women and eight men arrived at Birmingham to compete in Commonwealth Games 2022. With the aim to win medals for the country at the event, the pugilists wasted no time and started their practice sessions. Indian boxers from Amit Panghal, Ashish Kumar Chaudhary, Sanjeet, Mohammad Hussamuddin were seen doing shadow boxing and then were trained by one of the boxing coach Dharmendra Singh Yadav who was helping them do pad work.

"The preparation for Commonwealth Games in Birmingham is going on very well. All the eight boxers have worked very hard. The experience under the Boxing Federation of India (BFI), Sports Authority of India (SAI), and Netaji Subhas National Institute of Sports (NIS) Patiala, where a coaching camp was organized, was amazing amidst COVID-19 restrictions. From the administration's point of view, everything was managed properly including maintenance of equipments, coaching etc. Everything was organized well, " said India men's boxing coach Narendra Rana.

Just before the start of the Commonwealth Games 2022 in Birmingham, the Indian boxers were training in Belfast (the capital of Northern Ireland) for the past two weeks.

"Training in Ireland was great for our boxers. Especially, training in such a climate is challenging to ensure good performance. The way we trained in Ireland for 13 days will hopefully have a positive impact in the games," Rana added.

Alongside the men's team, India women pugilists were also sweating it out with all their strength. Tokyo Olympic Bronze Medallist Lovlina Bargohain did shadow boxing and also did some gym exercises under the watchful eyes of women's head coach Bhaskar Bhatt while reigning world champion Nikhat Zareen did intense skipping exercises. Jasmine, too, did some intense shadow boxing.

The Birmingham Commonwealth Games 2022 is being held from July 28 to August 8.

(ANI)