Pooja Rani and Sonia Lather withdraw from Strandja Memorial Boxing Tournament
Indian boxers Pooja Rani and Sonia Lather have pulled out of the annual Strandja Memorial Boxing Tournament, a Boxing Federation of India (BFI) official familiar with the development said on Wednesday. The tournament is scheduled to be held in the Bulgarian city of Sofia from February 19-28.
Haryana’s 30-year-old two-time Asian champion in middleweight, Pooja Rani, is yet to recover from the trauma of losing her father last month.
Sonia Lather too has expressed her inability to compete in the competition due to personal reasons.
Since both Pooja (81kg) and Sonia (57kg) have withdrawn from the Strandja Memorial Boxing Tournament this week, the BFI will be unable to select boxers for the international exposure tour.
Pooja and Sonia were among the boxers selected by the BFI for the national camp in progress at the Indira Gandhi Indoor Sports Complex in New Delhi.
“The process of replacing Pooja and Sonia is not possible at the moment as all the necessary paperwork has been done for travel," the BFI official explained. "We have to field 10 boxers only for the European competition."
Medal winners in their respective weight categories at the national women’s boxing championships held in Hisar were shortlisted for the international exposure tour.
There will be no changes to the men’s group, said a senior boxing coach associated with the national camp.
“But India’s 2019 world silver medalist Amit Panghal is among five male Olympians to skip the Strandja Memorial Boxing Tournament as they are not enjoying good fitness as the moment,” the coach revealed. “Majority of the boxers selected for the European tour are those who won national titles in their respective weight categories.”
Indian team for Strandja Memorial Boxing Tournament
Men: Govid Saini (48kg), Ankit (51kg), Rajpinder Singh (54kg), Rohit Mor (57kg), Varinder Singh (60kg), Dalvir Singh (63kg), Akash (67kg), Rohit Tokas (70kg), Sumit (75kg), Sachin Kumar (81kg), Lakshya Chahar (86kg), Gaurav Chauhan (91kg) and Narender (plus 91kg).
Women: Nitu (48kg), Anamika (50kg), Nikhat Zareen (52kg), Shiksha (54kg) Meena Rani (60kg), Parveen (63kg), Anjali Tushir (66kg), Arundhati Chaudhary (70kg), Saweety (75kg), and Nandini (plus 81kg).