Replicating an internationally accepted norm, the Boxing Federation of India (BFI) has introduced a seeding system to prepare the draws for the National championships starting at the Army Sports Institute here on Saturday.
The small yet significant step will add some discipline to the Nationals and enhance its charm. Higher-ranked boxers of a particular weight category will be placed in different halves of the draw, ruling out the possibility of big names clashing in early stages of the event.
“We have given points to top finishers in the previous year’s championships. The boxers also get points for their international performances. Based on these points, their ranking is decided and the draw is done,” BFI secretary Jay Kowli said on Friday.
The BFI had introduced a similar ranking system for selection of boxers for the Asian Games.
Even though many prominent names have decided to skip the event, reputed boxers including World championships medallist Gaurav Bidhuri, Commonwealth Games silver medallists Manish Kaushik and Satish Kumar and bronze medallist Naman Tanwar will enjoy the benefit of the new system.
In fact, Manish, the defending champion in 60kg, and Satish (+91kg) will be the star attractions for the host Services.
However, one will also miss Asian Games gold medallist Amit Panghal, another Services boxer, and bronze medallist Vikas Krishan, who is eyeing to enter professional boxing, and Worlds medallist Shiva Thapa.
Bidhuri, competing in the championships after 2013, said he would use the platform as the stepping stone for his preparations for 2020 Olympics.
“I have recovered from injuries and competed in the inter-railways. I will use this to test myself before gearing up for the Olympic qualifying events,” said Bidhuri.
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