4th Asian Women’s Boxing Championship

Vijender, Akhil to attend opening ceremony

Guwahati, Sep 21: Teams started pouring in since Saturday for the 4th Asian Women’s Boxing Championship which will be held at the Karmabir Nabin Chandra Bordoloi Indoor Stadium in the Sarusajai Sports Complex here from September 23 to 29.
Olympian boxers Vijender Singh and Akhil Kumar will also attend the inaugural ceremony.
The North and South Korea teams were the first to land here on Saturday. Teams from Kazakhstan, Indonesia, Macau, Sri Lanka and Vietnam followed the Koreans. The rest of the teams from Mongolia, Nepal, China and Chinese Taipei will arrive tomorrow.
The Indian team is already in the city after the selection on September 16.
The Assam Boxing Association has completed almost all the arrangements for the mega event.
All the bouts will be organised in one ring, which has been set in the Sarusajai-based indoor stadium today, under the watchful eyes of boxing technicians Deben Gogoi and Padum Boro.
The officials of the organising committee gave all the teams warm reception at the airport.
Cultural troupes took the stage today for the final dress rehearsal for the inauguration ceremony on Tuesday.
Joint director of sports, Rajib Prakash Baruah, who is co-ordinating the programmes, said the low-key opening ceremony would be marked by traditional Assamese flavour exhibiting the Sattriya culture of the host state.
“The 45-minute programme will start with Sattriya dance accompanied by the welcome song by Sangeeta Kakati, followed by bhor-taal nritya and the Bihu dance, which are popular cultural items of the state. Another attraction of the programme will be mime on boxing by mime artiste Mainul Haque,” Baruah said.
“Besides, there will be a demonstration of thang-ta, a traditional martial art form of Manipur, by leading players from the state. This too is expected to be a prime attraction of the programme,” he added. A dressed rehearsal for the opening ceremony was also conducted in the stadium today.
Chief minister Tarun Gogoi will inaugurate the championship at 3 pm.
The closing ceremony on September 29, however, has “something special” kept “secret”, Baruah added.
Sources said singers like Joy Mukherjee and others from Mumbai could rock the stage.