Mary Kom and Co vie for honours in india open

Guwahati

All eyes will be on six-time world champion Mary Kom as 72 Indian boxers vie for honours against 200 pugilists from 16 nations in the second edition of the India Open beginning here on Monday.

Amit Panghal and Shiva Thapa will be among the other top Indian boxers in the tournament, which will serve as a preparatory meet for the World Championships (an Olympic qualification event) in Russia. Having opted out of the Asian Championships last month in order to prepare for the Worlds, Mary will make her competitive debut at home in the 51kg in the US$ 70,000 meet at the Karmabir Nabin Chandra Bordoloi Indoor Stadium.

While Mary will be India’s biggest medal hope yet again, Panghal (52kg) will look to continue his dominance after winning the Asian Championships gold. Assam’s Thapa (60kg), who created a record by winning medals in four consecutive Asian Championships, will aim to impress the home crowd and so will Ankushita Boro (64kg), a gold medallist in the 2017 World Youth Championship.

2017 World Championships bronze medallist Gaurav Bidhuri (56kg) will be another big medal hope for India. It will be an emotional homecoming for Thapa, who will look to make it special three years after being crowned the national champion here. Thapa is among six Assamese boxers who will be seen in action in the competition. Keeping in mind the approved weight categories for Olympic qualification, some of the Indian pugilists have changed their brackets. Panghal has moved from 49kg to 52kg. Assam’s Bhagyabati Kachari too has made a similar change, while Manisha Moun will be fighting it out in the 57kg for the very first time.

Simranjit Kaur has switched to 60kg and will be competing with former world champion Sarita Devi. After her stunning performance in the Asiads, Pooja Rani has gone back to her original weight category of 75kg. The top international boxers in the event include Asian Games gold medallist Baturov Bobo, Asian Games champion Mirzakhalilov Mirazizbek, two-time World Championships medallist Jasurbek Latipov of Uzbekistan and world champion Gabuco of Philippines.

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