Mary Kom gets Khel Ratna; Sarita Arjuna

New Delhi, July 29: For the first time since the inception of the Rajiv Khel Ratna Award in 1991, three sportspersons -- four-time world boxing champion Mangte Chungneijang Marykom, Olympic bronze medallists boxer Vijender Singh and wrestler Sushil Kumar -- will receive the country`s highest sporting honour.

Mary will be the second sporstperson from the state to receive the prestigious award after weightlifter Nameirakpam Kunjarani.

The only other time more than one sportsperson was bestowed the award was in 2002-03 when shooter Anjali Vedpathak and athlete K.M. Beenamol shared it.

Meanwhile, chief minister of Manipur, O Ibobi Singh and his SPF government expressed happiness over the selection of Mangte Chungneijang Mary Kom for the Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna Award and Laishram Sarita for the Arjuna Award.

The chief minister said that four-time world boxing champion May Kom and international player Sarita were really rare and talented players. He expressed his pride at getting the most prestigious sports award by the players of the state and also asked the young players to concentrate and become good players while assuring that sports would surely bring peace to the state.

N Biren Singh, state minister for youth affairs and sports also expressed his happiness over the awards to be given to the players of the state and felt proud of such achievements by the state’s boxing players.

The sports ministry also announced the list of 15 Arjuna Award winners Wednesday.
India`s opening batsman Gautam Gambhir, world No.6 badminton player Saina Nehwal and trap shooter Ronjan Sodhi, who equalled the world record, are among those selected for the Arjuna Award.

The selection committee headed by former table tennis player Indu Puri also selected Olympic medallist Sushil`s coach Satpal and former All England Badminton champion and Saina`s coach Pullela Gopichand for the Dronacharya Award.

The prize money for the Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna, Arjuna, Dronacharya and Dhyanchand Awards have been increased.

Khel Ratna prize money has been hiked from Rs.500,000 to Rs.750,000 while Arjuna, Dronacharya and Dhyanchand Awards prize money has been increased from Rs.300,000 to Rs.500,000.

List of awardees:
Rajiv Khel Ratna: M.C. Marykom (boxer), Vijender Kumar (boxer) and Sushil Kumar (wrestling)
Arjuna Award: Mangal Singh Champia (archery), Sinimol Paulose (athletics), Saina Nehwal (badminton), L. Sarita Devi (boxing), Tania Sachdeva (chess), Gautam Gambhir (cricket), Ignatius Tirkey (hockey), Surinder Kaur (hockey), Pankaj Shirsat (kabaddi), Satish Joshi (rowing), Ranjan Sodhi (shooting), Poulami Ghatak (table tennis), Yogeshwar Dutt (wrestling), G.L. Yadav (yachting), Parul Parmar (badminton disabled) .

Dronacharya Award: Baldev Singh (hockey), Jaidev Bisht (boxing), Satpal (wrestling) and Pullela Gopichand (badminton) .

Dhyanchand Award: Ishar Singh Deol (athletics), Satbir Singh Dahya (wrestling).

Upbeat boxers eye Commonwealth glory

On a high after its best ever performance at the Asian Boxing Championships in 27 years, Indian boxers expressed a lot of confidence.

Talking to the media after his arrival with the rest of the team in New Delhi on Tuesday, Suranjoy Singh, the sole gold medallist at the Zhuhai meet, said, "I will win gold at the Commonwealth Games."

India won one gold, two silver and four bronze medals at the meet, finishing third behind China and Uzbekistan.

Chief coach Gurbax Singh Sandhu was visibly upbeat. "Boxers who had been written off have made excellent comebacks," he said, "The youngsters have also made a mark."

On whether the contingent should be expected to bag gold at the Commonwealth Games, he said, "100 per cent."

Beijing Olympics bronze medallist Vijender Kumar was also optimistic about India's future prospects.

"We have a number of juniors like Balwinder (Beniwal), Nanao (Singh) and Suranjoy who will definitely brighten our chances of winning more medals in future," he said.

On being asked if the gold medal was expected, Suranjoy said, "Yes, I was hoping to win after bagging gold in a previous competition in the Czech Republic."

"I have to now prepare and work even harder for the forthcoming World Championships and Commonwealth Games," Suranjoy added.

He admitted that his short stature was a bit of a problem but said it wasn't a big factor.
Suranjoy's gold is India's first since 1994, when Rajkumar Sangwan had triumphed in Tehran.
"Suranjoy is very aggressive and strong-willed," remarked Sandhu.

"He was confident of and committed to winning the gold medal. He has snatched the medal from the Chinese."

Sandhu also expressed satisfaction at the team's overall showing. "It was a morale-building performance.

In fact, Vijender was also expected to win gold, but had a bit of bad luck, losing to a boxer from the host nation. The crowd's raucous cheering put him off a little."

Although he had to settle for bronze at Zhuhai, Vijender didn't sound overly disappointed. "Beating the world champion (Uzbek Atoev Abbos) in such an important tournament was extremely gratifying," he said.

Sandhu thanked the support staff for the contingent's improved display. "The entire team's coordinated efforts, in addition to the support from the sports ministry under Mr MS Gill, are bearing fruits."

Source: www.espnstar.com

Asian Boxing Championships

Suranjoy ends India's 15-year gold drought in Asian boxing

Zhuhai (China), June 13: Manipur's Suranjoy Singh gave India its first Asian Championship gold in 15 years while Thokchom Nanao Singh and Jai Bhagwan settled for silver medals as the country's boxers rounded off a 27-year-best performance in the elite event here today.

India ended their campaign with a gold, two silver and four bronze medals, which went to Jitender Kumar (54kg) Vijender Singh (75kg), Dinesh Kumar (81kg) and Paramjit Samota (+91kg). The team was placed third in the overall standings behind hosts China and Uzbekistan.

The performance this time is a marked improvement from 1982 championships held in Seoul where the country's boxers notched up two gold, an equal number of silver and a bronze medal.

The last gold medal for India in the Asian Championship came in the 1994 edition in Tehran where Rajkumar Sangwan finished on top in the super heavy weight category.

And today, it was a fly weight (51kg) boxer who broke the 15-year jinx. Suranjoy, a junior World Championship bronze medallist in 2004, beat Li Chao of China 9-8 in a thrilling encounter.

"It was certainly not one of my best performances because my opponent came very close to upstaging me but I am thrilled to win India's first gold medal here in 15 years," an elated Suranjoy said.

Another Manipuri, Nanao (48 kgs) settled for a silver losing 8-9 in a cliffhanger finaL to Pongprayoon Keaw of Thailand.

Nanao was leading after winning the first round 3-2 and was tied 6-6 at the end of the second round. He was leading 8-7 in the third round with less than ninety seconds from the finish but the Thai boxer came back strong to win 9-8.

4th ASBC Asian Women Boxing Championship

‘Asian boxing will provide a good platform for Asom boxers’
Guwahati, Sep 21: Guwahati is all set to host the 4th ASBC Asian Women Boxing Championship which would be held at the Karmavir Navin Chandra Bordoloi Indoor Stadium at Sarusajai from September 23.

Talking to The Sentinel exclusively, B Kalyan Chakravarthy, secretary general of the organizing committee assured that it would be one of the most memorable tournament for the participants and they would return home with sweet memories of Asom. Here is the excerpts.
Q. Would you kindly highlight the preparation of the mega event?

A. As we all know that it is the first official international tournament in Guwahati so you can understand the magnitude of the event. Till date everything is going on according to the plan. Several teams have already arrived in the city and rest of the participating teams would reach Guwahati by tomorrow.
Q. How many teams are taking part in the championship?

A. We have received confirmation of 12 countries including Sri Lanka, Nepal, Macaw, China, Chinse Taipei, Vietnam, North Korea, South Korea, Mongolia, Kazaksthan, Indonesia and India. The number of participants would be more then one hundred.
Q. What would the inaugural and closing ceremonies be like?

A. We will organize small functions to showcase the culture of the northeastern region. Asom Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi will attend the inaugural function as the chief guest. On the other hand, we have invited the recent Olympics bronze medal winning boxer Vijender to grace the inaugural function.
Q. There is always a chance to get hurt in boxing. What about the medical facilities?

A. We have already made such arrangement so that we can provide the participating boxers best medical facilities, including ICU, whenever it is necessary. At the same time we have insured the boxers also and if anything happened they will get compensation.
Q. The State Government played a big role in the National Games that was held in Guwahati. What about this time?

A. This time it is completely different story. The host of the meet is Assam Boxing Association and they are doing everything to make it a grand success. This is for your information that except me there is no involvement of Sate Government officials in this championship and Government even not offered financial assistance. Yes, a few ministers including Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi extended helping hand but they too providing helps on their individual capacities, not as a minister.
Q. What about your experience of working with the local sports organizers?

A. It is undoubtedly a big event and I think Assam Boxing Association has done a good job till date to host the meet. However, I found professional attitude missing among few officials which is very essential particularly when you are going to arrange such a big event.

Q. The sports organizers had complained that the response from the Government was very slow when they approached them for different reasons. Your comments.

A. I don’t ignore. But you know we have to make a lot of formalities before we reach to a decision and it needs few times but I feel the problem would be perished when more and more such events would be held in Guwahati.
Q. What response you receive from the sponsors?

A. To be honest except a few big companies, the response from the sponsor is not satisfactory at all. Actually, I think there is a lack of awareness among the local companies. They yet to know what mileage they would get by sponsoring such type of tournaments. Frankly speaking, if we can organize this event in places like Delhi or Mumbai, I am sure that Asom Boxing Association could easily make a good fund for their future expenditure.
Q. It will be the first major international meet in Guwahati. What are the positive things we would get from it?

A. I feel it is the platform for the boxers like Kalpana and Pranamika to start their campaign for the next Olympics. I am very optimistic that if women boxing is introduced into the London Olympic then few boxers from Asom would definitely bring laurels to the country.
Q. Any arrangement to make the championship a memorable one for the boxers?

A. Definitely. We have planned to take the boxers and the officials to Pabitora Wildlife Sanctuary and cruise ride in the mighty Bramhaputra. On the other hand will honour them with the finest tea of Asom.

Source: The Sentinel

Earlier Story:

Five from NE in national boxing squad

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.