Next Gen male boxers need to step up ahead of big year

Fifteen of the possible 20 final appearances, nine of them ending in gold medals. If one were to look at numbers alone, India’s run at the World Boxing Cup Final in Greater Noida will barely have any competitors.

- Shantanu Srivastava

Women pugilists stole the show with 10 medals, seven of them gold, while the men also returned with a medal from each of the 10 weight categories (two gold, five silver, three bronze).

The rousing success may lead one into believing that India has well and truly arrived as a boxing powerhouse, and while that may hold some merit in the women’s field, the results from the men’s division ought to be looked at a little more closely and dispassionately. The tournament that is purportedly meant for top-8 boxers of the world struggled to fill up the entries.

Out of possible 80 participants, 65 turned up for men — the number was little over 40 among women — with only two only two weight classes among men (70kg, 90kg) getting full representation. Hitesh Gulia (70kg) and Sachin Siwach (60kg) were the only male gold medallists from India and most of the final bouts served a crude reminder to Indian men who have had scant success of late.

India fielded their first-choice team in the competition while powerhouses such as Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan decided to test their bench.