Indian girls eye strong show at Novi Sad juniors meet

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The Indian women’s boxing team before leaving for Novi Sad.

A 10-member team of junior women’s boxers, including world champion Lalenkawali (48kg), are representing India at the Golden Glove of Vojvodina, an international youth women’s boxing tournament that got under way at Novi Sad in Serbia on Friday.

The inaugural edition of the four-day event will see about 60 boxers from India, Kazakhstan, the Netherlands, Sweden, Hungary, Romania, the Czech Republic, Bosnia and Croatia apart from hosts Serbia. The Indian are accompanied by four coaches, a doctor and a physiotherapist.
Chief coach of the Indian junior women’s team, I.V. Rao, believes that the tournament will offer good competition and be a big learning experience for his wards.
“This tour is a part of our long term development plan for the youth women’s boxing team and will help in our preparations for mega events, like the Youth Asian (slated to be held in December 2012) and Youth World Women’s Championships,” he said.
“These international tours are instrumental in the overall development of a boxer. For some of the girls this will be their first international tournament and will give them an opportunity to expand their horizons,” added the Dronacharya awardee
On the chances of his team at the meet the coach said, “We have a few medal prospects and I am sure we will return with favourable results. Winning is always a big confidence boost for an athlete, but more than the medals I am hoping for the girls to learn from this experience”. Lalenkawali, a multiple junior national gold medallist is keenly looking forward to the opportunity.
“We have been training hard at the national camp for the past few months and this competition will provide a good platform to test our skills and prove our mettle,” said the 17 year old from Mizoram.
Bronze medallist at 2011 Junior World Championships, Poona Chahal (60kg) is also a contender. Chahal, who won a gold medal last year at the 7th Youth Women National Championships, will be looking to win her first international gold.