NEW DELHI: India will host its first-ever major boxing tournament for elite men and women – the India Open International Boxing Tournament – from 28 January 2018 in New Delhi.
The country will also host the Senior Men’s World Championships in 2021, Sports Minister Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore announced on Friday.
Boxing Federation of India President Ajay Singh who announced the dates of the India Open tournament during the felicitation ceremony of Indian pugilists who had won medals in the AIBA Youth Women’s World Championships in Guwahati last month, said, “This is the first time that BFI is hosting an elite event of this stature and magnitude.”
Singh added that for the first time in the history of the sport, India will field a team in the upcoming edition of World Series Boxing, AIBA’s professional league. The team will be fully supported and sponsored by BFI, ANI quotes Singh as saying.
Rathore, speaking on the occasion, announced cash awards of Rs 6,70,000 to each gold medal winner and Rs 2,70,000 each to the bronze medallists. Rathore also felicitated Gaurav Bidhuri who took bronze at the AIBA Elite Men World Championship held in Germany in September this year.
“Our boxers need more international exposure and more international tournaments need to be held in India. From now on, we will try to hold at least one high quality international boxing tournament in India every year,” he told the media. “We need to ensure that the best boxers from the top boxing nations come and compete in India. This will help to improve our infrastructure,” Rathore added.
