Proposed Boxing League to start soon this year

Guwahati: The proposed franchise-based professional boxing league in India likely to start after a few months. Boxing Federation of India (BFI) president Ajay Singh said that they are looking for an appropriate time. On the last day of the second India Open Boxing Tournament in Guwahati where Indian pugilists have a rich haul of medals, Ajay Singh also said that Indian boxing is heading towards the right direction. “We are expecting it to happen in August or September this year. We are trying to find the window in the television schedule so that it doesn’t clash with any major leagues…the undisturbed period,” Singh said. He said that the availability of the players is also important. “It has to match our preparations as well. We need to make sure that our players are available at the time when we need them to be there. We suddenly can’t make them available in the middle of a World Championship or in a middle of certain stream of preparations that we are doing. But certainly within this year it’s going to happen,” Singh said. Also Read: "We want to be in the top 5 boxing countries of the world" On the franchises, the BFI chief hinted that there are probabilities of having two teams from the Northeast having seen the ample talents in boxing. “

Northeast probably should have two teams. Because so much of boxing talents coming from the northeast. Just look at the players both side of me (Shiva Thapa and Mary Kom who were sitting beside him). The kind of boxers we have seen in tournament is incredible,” said Singh. Mentioning Jamuna Boro who has won gold in the 54kg weight category, Singh said that her story is incredible. “Her mother sells vegetables…to come up from that background and win gold… these are the role models. Because of them, so many kids take up boxing. So, we should be grateful. I think Northeast is really one of the main homes of boxing. There’s no question about that,” he added. In the India Open, apart from Mary Kom (Gold), Jamuna Boro (Gold) and Shiva Thapa (Gold), the medal winners from the northeast are Sarita Devi (Gold), Meena Kumari (Bronze), Sandhyarani Devi (Silver) from Manipur, Vanlal Duati (Silver) from Mizoram and Bhagyawati Kachari (Gold), Ankushita Boro (Silver), Lovlina Borgohain (Silver) and Pwilao Basumatary (Bronze) from Assam. All the participants from the region have won medals.