The Indian boxing squad are high on confidence ahead of the Asian Championships that gets under way in Amman, Jordan, from June 30, but the tricky scoring pattern is keeping the team management “anxious”.
The Jordan event will be followed by the prestigious world championship in October. The Asian Championship will be played under the new scoring pattern modelled on the pro-boxing style where a boxer will be awarded points on the basis of his dominance in each round.
Three judges randomly selected from a group of five will award points in the range of 10-9, with the winner walking away with 10 points.
“We are not stressing our kids about the scoring pattern but only on good performance. The new scoring pattern will be a challenge and we need to wait to see how the boxers adapt,” national coach G.S. Sandhu said on Thursday.
The 10-member team comprise of Olympians L. Devendro Singh (49 kg), Shiva Thapa (56 kg), Manoj Kumar (64 kg) and Dinesh Kunar who will compete in the (91 kg). A strong show is expected from Madan Lal (52 kg) and Mandeep Jangra (69kg), who returned with gold medals from the invitation tournament held in Cyprus last month.
Jangra, mentored by boxer Akhil Kumar, said he was hoping for a good show. “The gold medal has given me a lot of confidence and I have trained well. Hopefully, the hard work will pay off.”