'I'm very proud of what family I come from, but I feel it must always be an afterthought... 10 years of my work will get nullified when people say "Yeh toh genes main hai".'

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.

All but written off after a string of injuries wrecked havoc on his career four years ago, enigmatic boxer Akhil Kumar staged a remarkable comeback to make the 10-member Indian men's team for the Asian Games, in Incheon, South Korea.

A summary of the final day's play in the Elite division matches of the Ranji Trophy.

A summary of the first day's play in the Elite division matches of the Ranji Trophy, on Tuesday.

Coach Jaidev Bisht feels the Asian meet will be a good opportunity for Indian boxers to prepare for the World Championships.

Roundup of the Ranji Trophy matches.

Suranjoy Singh (52kg) and Amandeep Singh (49kg) assured India of at least two medals by advancing to the semi-finals while defending champion Akhil Kumar (56kg) brought a packed Talkatora to its feet with a dramatic revenge win over Iain Weaver to enter the quarter-finals of the Commonwealth Games boxing event.

Olympian Diwakar Prasad and Commonwealth champion Amandeep Singh assured themselves of a medal with contrasting triumphs even as a couple of upsets highlighted the quarterfinals of the 57th Senior Men's National Boxing Championships in New Delhi.

Indian pugilist Dinesh Kumar beat Bejenaru Constantin of Romania 11: 4 to enter the quarter-finals of the 81 kg category in the World Boxing Championships in Milan on Monday.

Olympic heroes boxer Vijender Singh, wrestler Sushil Kumar, along with four-time world champion woman pugilist M C Mary Kom, were on Saturday conferred the prestigious Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna award in a glittering ceremony in New Delhi. For the first time in the history of national sports awards, three sportspersons were individually bestowed India's highest sporting honour, which comes with an enhanced cash prize of Rs 7.5 lakh and a newly-designed statuette.

For the first time, three top sportspersons -- boxers M C Mary Kom and Vijender Singh, and wrestler Sushil Kumar -- were selected for the country's highest sporting honour, the Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna. While the prestigious award was previously shared by two sportspersons in 1996-97 and 2002-03, Wednesday marked the first time that three were picked for the coveted honour for outstanding performances in 2008-09.

Akhil Kumar gave India a resounding start at the inaugural AIBA boxing World Cup, out-punching Germany's Marcel Schneider 15-6 to enter the bantamweight semi-finals and assure himself a medal, in Moscow on Wednesday. The 27-year-old Indian will be up against Beijing Olympics silver medallist Yankiel Leon Alarcon of Cuba in the next round on December 13.