Hussamuddin to begin Indian campaign at Asian Boxing Championships

Amit Panghal recieves direct entry into quarterfnals while Mary Kom will compete in the semi-finals.

Commonwealth Games bronze medallist Mohammad Hussamuddin is set to begin proceedings for India on the opening day at the 2021 ASBC Asian Boxing Championships as draw revealed on Sunday in Dubai. AIBA has allocated USD 400,000 as prize money for the tournament.

The men’s side have relatively tough draw as compared to their women counterparts. Alongside Hussamuddin, Asian Championship gold medllist Shiva Thapa and Sumit Sangwan will also begin their campaign on Day 1.

Defending champion Amit Panghal (52kg), who received bye in the first round will start against Mongolia’s Enkhmanadakh Kharkhuu. He is among the six Indians to start the quarter final stage. The duo had last met at the Olympic qualifiers in Jordan where the Indian managed to succeed.

Another Olympic-qualified Indian Ashish Kumar who also received bye in the first round, will challenge Kazakhstan’s Abilkhan Amankul. In the +91kg category, Narender will be up against two-time World Championships silver medallist Kamshibek Kunkabayev in the first round.

Seven women boxers including MC Mary Kom and Lovlina Borgohain will begin their Asian Boxing Championships campaign in the semi-final stage.  Among men, six will start in the quarters including Panghal and Vikas Krishan .

A participation of more than 27 countries were to participate initially. However, due to recent travel restrictions, some of the countries were unable to participate. The event will now take place in presence of 150 pugilists from 17 counties. These includestrong boxing nations such as India, Uzbekistan, Philippines and Kazakhstan.

The matches at the 2021 Asian Championships will commence from Monday. In the last edition of the Championships , India returned with an unprecedented 13 medals including two gold.

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