13-member Indian elite men's boxing team starts training in Iran

The Boxing Federation of India (BFI) has arranged the camp for the country's elite men pugilists, which also includes Thailand Open gold medallist Govind Kumar Sahani (48kg), Ananta Chopade (54kg), Md Etash Khan (60kg), Sachin (67kg), Amit Kumar (71kg), Naveen Boora (75kg), Arshdeep (80kg), Lakshya Chahar (86kg), Naveen Kumar (92kg) and Tokyo Olympics quarter-finalist Satish Kumar (92+kg). Deepak is the reigning national champion in the 51kg category.

He is also an Asian Championship silver medallist. The eight Indian men boxers who participated at the recent Birmingham Commonwealth Games are not part of this camp.

Their full-fledged training will resume in the first week of September. The 13 boxers and four support staff have already reached Iran and will be starting their camp from Sunday.

The training camp has been organised by BFI as part of its plan to give maximum international exposure and give them equal opportunities to get selected for major international events. BFI wants high standards for the elite boxers and providing such exposure trips will strengthen the reserve pool in each weight category, a BFI release said.