In an interesting incident, India now has four medals guaranteed to its name without a single fight at the boxing World Cup in Cologne, Germany. Four pugilists in the name of Asian Games champion and world silver-medallist Amit Panghal (52 kg) among men and Pooja Rani (75 kg), Manisha (57 kg), and Simranjeet Kaur (60 kg) in the women’s draw will start straight from the semi-finals due to the small size of their respective draws.
The draws were revealed on Thursday and a support staff member in the team was found Covid positive. However, fresh tests were carried out after the incident but fortunately, all the boxers tested negative.
“A physio, Rohit Kashyap, has tested positive for COVID-19 but the boxers are fine. They have been tested again and returned negative. The physio has been isolated and is doing alright,” a source in the Sports Authority of India (SAI) told PTI.
There were fitness issues in the contingent too as four-time Asian medallist Shiva Thapa (63 kg) and Sanjit (91 kg) had to back out of the tournament with minor injuries.
The other members of the team will go ahead and compete according to plan in a three-day event. On completion, the team will return to the country after spending a period of one month in Europe including training and competition.
In his semifinal match on Thursday, Amit Panghal will take on Frenchman Billal Bennama who won a bronze at the world championship where Panghal won silver.
In total, four Indian men and five women have taken part in the competition. Apart from India, the tournament will see boxers from the host country Germany and other countries like Belgium, Croatia, Denmark, France, Moldova, Netherlands, Poland, and Ukraine.