Pune rules the ring

Mumbai has the tradition of producing sports icons, particularly in cricket. But the scene looks pretty bleak as far as boxing is concerned. Though it may surprise a few but the fact is that the nine-member state boxing squad (taking part in the All India Mayor’s Super Cup Boxing) has only a couple of boxers from the city and its suburbs. The rest are from Pune and Jalgaon.

Even the chief coach of Maharashtra admitted the fact. “We don’t get many boxing enthusiasts from the city as compared to Pune and Jalgaon,” chief coach Bandu Gaikwad told DNA on Monday. However, the two city-based boxers — Vinod Kotiyan and Piyush Yadav — are talented. In fact, Kotiyan is  highly rated by experts.

Pune though has become the boxing hub with as many as six boxers in the nine-member state contingent while Jalgaon has one representative.

Asked about the reason why Pune has gone ahead of Mumbai, Gaikwad says that parents in Mumbai are not too keen on sending their children to the boxing ring. “It’s a fast city and people are well-off and so they want their children to pursue cricket, tennis and other glamorous sports,” he said. “In terms of facilities, Mumbai has 10 boxing clubs while Pune has nearly 25,” Gaikwad added.

Maharashtra squad
Piyush Yadav, Vinod Kotiyan (Mumbai), Samir Sheikh, Salman Sheikh, Hitesh Nandani, Yogesh Gaekwad, Siddharth Verma and Anil Kushwa (Pune) and Manoj Pagare