With an eye on Asian Championship, Alfiya gets ready for nationals

 

 

By Paritosh Pramanik

WITH an eye on the Asian Youth Championship which is going to be held in Dubai in August, Indian boxer Alfiya Tarannum Akram Khan Pathan will be taking the Boxing Federation of India’s 4th Youth Women’s National Boxing Championship 2021 as the build-up for the continental competition. The talented boxer from Nagpur was the automatic choice in the Maharashtra Squad in her 81+ weight category after no other boxer turned up from the State.
Maharashtra Boxing Association Secretary Dr Rakesh Tiwari announced the 24-member men and women’s team recently. The national-level competition, which is going to be held at Sonipath in Haryana from July 18, will serve as the selection trials for the pugilists for Asian meet which will be held from August 17 in UAE.
Alfiya, a FIBA World Youth Championship gold medal winner, has been working hard for past couple of months to keep herself in shape. She had been working on building agility and stamina for the future tournaments under the watchful eyes of her NIS coach Ganesh Purohit.
With a youth world championship title under her belt, the daughter of Assistant Sub-Inspector Akram Pathan, Alfiya is confident of good performance. “I am confident of giving a good performance in the national meet,” said Alfiya while on her way to Sonipath.
“The confidence level is high after the gold medal winning feat at Poland. I am not under any pressure for this nationals. But I will not take any opponent lightly. I know all boxers would give their best to get in the Indian team. I will not lower my guard and take every opponent very seriously,” Alfiya told ‘The Hitavada’ over phone from Itarsi on Thursday evening.
Alfiya was aware of the fact that her gold winning performance in the national championship will fetch her a place in the Indian team.
“I will have to win gold in the Sonipath Nationals. The gold medal winning performance will confirm my spot in Indian team. Hence, I will have to deliver the ‘knock-out’ punch,” she made her intentions clear.
“This event will help me prepare for the Asian Championship. I don’t know who all will be my opponents (in nationals) but I am sure of performing upto the expectations of my coaches,” she said. Alfiya is being trained by NIS coach Purohit who had said that she will have to improve her agility as she will now be facing stiff competitions in future. “I am working on her fitness and making her more agile. She needs to be quick on her feet as the competition from here on will only get tougher,” Purohit had said this newspaper.
Maharashtra Boxing Association Secretary Dr Rakesh Tiwari is confident of a great performance from the women’s squad. “We can win championship in girls category. I am hoping of a total of six medals which includes three golds,” said Dr Tiwari.
“I am 100 per cent sure of Alfiya winning the gold medal,” affirmed Dr Tiwari.
Nagpur Mayor Dayashankar Tiwari who is also President of Nagpur City Boxing Association, Alfiya’s coach Ganesh Purohit, Sajjad Hussain, President, Nagpur District Boxing Association, Poras Kotwal, Secretary, Nagpur District Boxing Association, Sanjay Jordar, Dinesh Chapane, Sudesh Shende, Lawrence Gregory and others congratulated and with luck to Alfiya.
The 24-member Maharashtra team has 12 men and as many women participants.
The team: Men: Sandeep Yadav (48kgs), Mohit Singh Bhadoria (51 kgs), Venkatesh Thevar (54kgs), Pawan Vishwakarma (57 kgs), Baswaraj Kattimani (60 kgs), Aditya Goud (63.5 kgs), Shivram Chavan (67 kgs), Manik Singh (71 kgs), Kunal Ghorpade (75kgs), Omkar Gadhave (80 kgs), Rushikesh Girigosavi (86kgs) and Mohd Uzer (92kgs). Chief Coach: Jawwad Khan. Coach: Sandeep Jadhav. Manager: Bandu Gaikwad.
Women: Janhavi Churi (48kgs), Sandhya More (50kgs), Simran Verma (52kgs), Rishika Hole (54kgs), Mrunal Jadhav (57kgs), Aarya Bartakke (60kgs), Nasweera Mujawar (63kgs), Sadiya Shaikh (66kgs), Saie Davkhar (70kgs), Tanishka Patil (75kgs), Sharvari Kalyankar (81kgs), Alfiya Tarannum Akram Khan Pathan (81+kgs). Chief Coach: Dhananjay Bansod. Coach: Krishna Soni. Coach-cum-manager: Asmita Dubey.