MC Mary Kom To Train At ASI Pune Alongwith Two Olympic-bound Boxers

Indian boxer MC Mary Kom will resume her preparations for the Tokyo Olympics at the Army Sports Institute (ASI) in Pune. She will be joined in by two other Olympic-bound boxers named Simranjit Kaur (60kg) and Lovlina Borgohain (69kg). Their names have been included in the elite women national camp at Pune.

“The training was thrown haywire after the suspension of Delhi camp but, hopefully, it will now get back on track. I might even train with the men boxers who are there at ASI, I routinely train like that to be in good shape,” said MC Mary Kom. She will not be accompanied by her coach and former boxer Chhote Lal Yadav who has tested positive for COVID-19.

MC Mary Kom to train along with nine other boxers

The recent surge in the COVID-19 cases led to the venue change of the training camp to Pune. This training will go on till July 31. Besides MC Mary Kom, a few others will be a part of this training session. The 2019 World Championship bronze medallist Jamuna Boro (54kg) will be returning to the national camp after a long break, which was caused due to an injury. Another Olympic-bound boxer Pooja Rani (75kg) who was training at the IIS Bellary will also be moving to Pune.

Some other players who have been selected to train at the national camp include Arundhati Choudhary (69kg), Manju Rani (48kg), Sonia Lather (57kg), Lalbuatsaihi (64kg), Shashi Chopra (64kg) and Jasmine (57kg).

All the boxers will be accompanied by a 10-member team of coaches and support staff.

The national training camp will be conducted with a secure training module, in which players will be divided into three different groups. They will be trained within their groups at different scheduled times.

“With the Asian Championships and the Olympic Games approaching, our focus will be to utilise the time we have in hand and maximise the training ahead of these two events. Considering the safety of players, coaches and support staff, we have created a training plan for players in separate clusters to minimise the risk involved," said Hemanta Kalita, General Secretary of Boxing Federation of India.

Hemanta also added that they are ensuring that the boxers return to the camp to start training, and working to get the best possible results.