Jharkhand Boxing Association (JBA) has declared team for the 35th National Games to be held in Kerala from January 31 to February 10. The seven-member (men and women) squad outfit announced by JBA comprises young bunch of pugilists. The mens’ squad comprises Sandeep Toppo (56-60 kg), Diwakar Prasad (60-64 kg), M Ravi Kumar (81-91 kg) and Gurcharan Singh (+91 kg) while Jyoti Mundari (51 kg), Sarika Kumari (57 kg) and Aruna Mishra (75 kg) are the women members.
Ajit Kumar Singh and BK Jena will be mentors of the mens’ team while Ernest lakra will guide the women’s team. Paritosh Kumar has been made manager. D Jagannath Rao and M Ishwar Rao will head for Kerala as officials. Sandeep, Diwakar and Kumar are from Jamshedpur, Gurcharan hails from Ramgarh. Jyoti is from Chakradharpur in West Singhbhum whereas Aruna and Sarika are from the steel city.
Charles Borromeo, secretary of the JBA said that the squad is an equal mix of young talent and expressed confidence that the team will shine in the national meet. Another official of JBA said that london Olympics was a clear sign that boxing is growing in India as eight boxers qualified for the mega event in 2012. A lot more needs to be done, particularly at the grassroots level to become a world power.
“There is still a long way to go. We need systematic training. We also need good coaches at lower levels, to start within the districts. Our main focus will be on villages around Jamshedpur and other towns of the state,” said the official. The 30-year-old Diwakar, who won bronze in the Junior World Boxing Championship in Cuba in 2002, is a cadet of the Tata Boxing Centre while 35-year Aruna is a former Asian champion. Aruna, an inspector with the Jharkhand police, added she would try to give best in Kerala.