Olympic hockey medallist Gurbax Singh Grewal has passed away at the age of 84 after suffering a heart attack. He was a member of the Indian team that won bronze at the 1968 Mexico City Olympics.
'But looking at our current performance, I'm confident that a medal in the World Cup is not far off.'
A bronze medal in his kitty, Indian boxer Shiva Thapa could not add the Olympic quota place to it despite a valiant effort in a hard-fought box-off of the World Championships in Doha on Wednesday.
He stopped short of saying retirement but India's long-serving national boxing coach Gurbax Singh Sandhu has hinted at stepping down from his position after next month's Olympics, saying that he wants to 'rest' post the Rio campaign.
Impressed by India's performance at the Doha International Tournament, Aussie boxers want exchange programme with India, claims coach Gurbax Singh Sandhu
Drop the guard and punch the living daylights out of rivals -- this would be the Indian boxing team's mantra for success during the Asian Olympic Qualifiers as national coach Gurbax Singh Sandhu feels the new system of scoring encourages pugilists to be more aggressive.
India's long-serving boxing coach Gurbax Singh Sandhu expects two more of his wards to make the cut for London Olympics from the Asian qualifying event in April after four of them booked their berths in last year's World Championships.
Miffed hotels, restaurants stare at huge losses on account of advance planning for events that they now have to shelve.
'We are not organising any large celebrations on New Year's Eve to avoid last-minute changes in guidelines.'
World number one boxer Vijender Singh, who braved a dislocated thumb to clinch a gold medal at the Asian Games, will be India's flag bearer at the closing ceremony of the mega-event Guangzhou on Saturday.
With expectations sky-high after their stupendous Commonwealth Games performance but very little time for preparations, Indian pugilists head to Guangzhou for the Asian Games where the country has not won a boxing gold since 1998.
Olympian and former India captain Gurbax Singh on Wednesday criticised officials of Hockey India for "running the organisation like mafias".
National coach Gurbax Singh Sandhu explains how the administrative mess in Indian boxing is hurting.
Kiren Rijiju, the Union Minister for Youth Affairs and Sports led the tributes for the champion pugilist.
Threatened with disqualification for not wearing vests bearing their country's name, India's boxers at the ongoing 2016 Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro have got their kits replaced as required by the International Boxing Association (AIBA) and will now compete without any hindrance.
Vikas Krishan (75kg) became the third Indian boxer to enter the quarter-finals of the World Olympic Qualifying Tournament in Baku and be just one win away from booking a berth in the Rio Games this August.
National coach Gurbax Singh Sandhu says the four-year-long administrative logjam cannot escape blame for all that has gone wrong with the once flourishing sport.
Asian Games bronze-medallist Satish Kumar (+91kg) and Sumit Sangwan (81kg) notched up facile wins to enter the second round of the International Boxing Association's World Olympic Qualification tournament in Baku.
Hailing the decision of the Supreme Court to appoint a two-member committee to oversee reforms in the Cricket Board after the removal of two top BCCI officials, some Olympians and Arjuna Awardees from other disciplines backed ex-cricketers Bishen Bedi and Kirti Azad to undertake the task. "The Hon. Supreme Court has given the onerous responsibility of suggesting names of eminent people who shall comprise a committee to oversee reforms in BCCI and state bodies which have been bedevilled by controversies and malfeasance," they said in a media statement following the apex court's ejection of Anurag Thakur and Ajay Shirke as President and Secretary of the BCCI.
Commonwealth Games silver-medallist L Devendro Singh (49kg) assured himself of a medal and a place in the upcoming World Championships by storming into the Asian Championships semi-final in Bangkok on Tuesday.
Former Commonwealth Games gold medallist Manoj Kumar (64kg) and Asian Games champion Vikas Krishan (75kg) qualified for the Rio Olympics after advancing to the semi-finals of the AIBA World qualifying tournament in Baku, Azerbaijan, on Thursday.
Indian boxer Sumit Sangwan (81kg) advanced to the pre-quarterfinal of the AIBA World Olympic qualification tournament after notching up a hard-fought win over eighth seed Juan Carlos Carrillo of Colombia in Baku.
Tokyo-bound AFI medical commission chairman AK Mendiratta dies of COVID-19.
Indian boxing got the first glimpse of Dingko's talent at the 1989 sub-junior nationals in Ambala where he became a champion as a 10-year-old.
Commonwealth Games silver-medallist L Devendro Singh (49kg) stormed into the quarter-finals, while the experienced Manoj Kumar (64kg) entered the last-16 stage in the International Boxing Association's World Olympic Qualification tournament after notching comprehensive victories in Baku, Azerbaijan.
The 41-year-old, who is a member of the European Boxing Confederation's coaches commission, will be joining the boxers in the first week of June.
Worried about the administrative logjam in Indian boxing, recently-crowned WBO Asia Pacific champion Vijender Singh pleaded with the officials to put together a new federation at the earliest for the sake of country's pugilists.
Former Commonwealth Games gold-medallist Manoj Kumar (64kg) clinched a hard-fought victory but two other Indian boxers bowed out after losing in the first round at the AIBA World Olympic Qualification Tournament in Baku, Azerbaijan.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi, on Monday, met the Indian athletes who will represent the country at the forthcoming Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil and wished them luck.
Gurbax Singh Sandhu has been retained national coach of the men's boxing team till the 2016 Olympics in Rio de Janeiro.
Olympic champion shooter Abhinav Bindra appealed to AIBA to help clean up the administrative mess in Indian boxing and pave the way for the country's pugilists to participate at the Rio Olympics under the national flag. Ever willing to boost the confidence of fellow athletes, Bindra visited the Indian boxing squad competing at the AIBA World Olympic Qualification tournament here and interacted with them individually.
'Keeping in view all the factors and in the interest of promotion and development of boxing in India, I would urge you to take a very sympathetic view of the matter'
It was a disappointing first session for Indian boxers in the World Championships quarter-finals, on Wednesday, as the seeded duo of Asian champion Shiva Thapa (56kg) and Commonwealth Games gold-medallist Manoj Kumar (64kg) lost, and Satish Kumar (+91kg) was declared medically unfit.
Commonwealth Games silver-medallist Mandeep Jangra took just over a minute to force his rival out of the contest with a bloodied face and book a pre-quarterfinal berth in the Asian Boxing Championships in Bangkok.
Indian boxers continued to pack a mighty punch at the World Championships, as Manoj Kumar (64kg) and Manpreet Singh (91kg) entered the pre-quarter-finals with contrasting victories in their respective second round bouts, in Almaty, Kazakhstan, on Friday.
World Championships bronze-medallist Shiva Thapa (56kg), on Thursday, became the first Indian boxer to make the cut for this year's Olympics by entering the Asian Qualifying Tournament's final but the celebrated M C Mary Kom (51kg) failed to book her Rio Games ticket after losing in the last-four stage, in Qian'an, China.
On a comeback trail after serving her one-year ban, Asian Games bronze-medallist L Sarita Devi will be seen in competitive action from December 1 as part of a 13-strong Indian team of 10 men and 3 women for the training-cum-competition event in the Chinese city of Qian'an.
Shiva Thapa became only the third Indian boxer ever to assure himself of a World Championships medal besides inching closer to an Olympic berth as he advanced to the semifinals with a dominating victory, in Doha, on Saturday.