Visakhapatnam: National boxing from October 24

Visakhapatnam: The Railway Sports Promotion Board (RSPB) of the Indian Railways will host national boxing championship from October 24 to 30 at Swarnabharathi Indoor stadium in the city.

The knockout championship is expected to attract more than 400 participants with 36 entries from various federations. The players will be accommodated within a 3km radius from the venue with efficient transport arrangements in place.

Addressing the media here on Tuesday, Waltair Railway Divisional Railway manager Mukul Saran Mahur said the Boxing Federation of India offered an opportunity to RSPB to host second National Boxing championship and decided Visakhapatnam as an ideal place for conducting the sport meet as the city contributed a lot of boxers to the nation.

The first national boxing championship was held in Guwahati last year with Shyam Kumar of Waltair Division of East Coast Railway representing Indian Railways bagging a silver medal in the 49-kg category. Indian Railways stood in second position while Services team bagged the first position.

Executive director RSPB Rekha Yadav said Indian Railway team comprising Shyam, Sagar, Bala and Bhaskar are at a coaching programme at New Delhi and R. Srinivasa Rao of Waltair division was the coach for the Indian Railways team. 

She said Railways is always in the forefront in encouraging sports. Railways has been a major force in the field of boxing and dominate the ring at the national level and intentional participation as well.