NEW DELHI, Jan 30: World Championship bronze-winner Shiva Thapa (60kg), veteran Manoj Kumar (69kg) and former junior world champion Nikhat Zareen (51kg) will spearhead a 15-strong Indian mixed team in the 68th International Boxing tournament for men and women in Sofia, Bulgaria.
The men�s team comprises 10 members, while the women�s team is five-strong for the tournament starting February 20.
The women�s team is headlined by former junior champion Nikhat (51kg).
The 15 boxers will be sent to Bulgaria a good 10 days before the competition to facilitate their training and acclimatisation.
The men�s team features the 10 national champions, who were crowned in Guwahati last month, which means Commonwealth Games silver-medallist L Devendro Singh (52kg) has missed out as he had won a silver medal at the event.
For Shiva and Manoj, it will be their maiden international competition since jumping weight divisions from bantamweight (56kg) and light welterweight (64kg) respectively.
The teams
Women: Nikhat Zareen (51kg), M Meena Kumari (54kg), Preeti Beniwal (60kg), Jyoti (64kg) and Monica Saun (75kg).
Men: Amit Kumar (49kg), Deepak Singh (52kg), Mohammad Hussamuddin (56kg, Shiva Thapa (60kg), Thomas Meitei (64kg), Manoj Kumar (69kg), Jaideep (75kg), Manish Panwar (81kg), Gaurav (91kg), Satish Kumar (+91kg). � PTI
