A busy international calendar unfolds for Indian boxing from Thursday with the 70th Strandja Memorial Tournament in Sofia, Bulgaria where Asian Games gold-medallist Amit Panghal (49kg) will be eyeing a second successive top finish.
India will have a 19-strong representation, 10 of them women, in the annual showpiece of the European calendar which gets underway following a draw on Thursday morning.
Amit has not competed after picking up India's sole boxing gold at the Asiad in Jakarta.
Commonwealth Games gold-medallist Gaurav Solanki (52kg), who won a silver at this event last year, will be aiming for a better finish on the podium this time around.
The 2017 World Championships bronze-medallist Gaurav Bidhuri (56kg), on the other hand, will be seeking a strong return to top-flight competition after recovering from a back injury that kept him out of action for most of the last year.
In the women's team, former world silver-medallist Sonia Lather (57kg) would be eager to put behind a disappointing 2018, during which she ended medal-less at the Asian Games.
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Also there in the squad are former CWG bronze-medallist Pinki Rani (51kg) and world bronze-medallist Lovlina Borgohain (69kg). Missing from the line-up is the celebrated MC Mary Kom, who won a silver in 48kg category in the last edition.
The Indian boxing contingent had clinched its best ever medal haul of 11 in the last edition of Strandja Memorial.
After this, India will compete in the International Boxing Tournament
The Teams:
International Boxing Tournament Strandja at Sofia, Bulgaria from Feb 13-20:
Women: Manju Rani (48Kg), Pinki Rani (51kg), Nikhat Zareen (51kg), Meena Kumari Devi (54kg), Sonia Lather
International Boxing Tournament at Chabahar city, Iran from Feb 22-28:
Men: Govind Kumar Sahani (49kg), Sachin (52kg), Kavinder Singh Bisht (56kg), Shiva Thapa (60kg), Ankit Khatana (64kg), Dinesh (69kg), Prayag Chauhan (75kg), Sanjay (81kg), Sumit Sangwan (91kg), Naveen Kumar