Clan-Members » v. 19.British flyweight Nicola Adams, a

On the final day of the womens boxing nationals at Haridwar, Poonam Bist pondered her next step. Bist didnt have a bout, having been eliminated in the semifinals of the womens flyweight (51kg) division a day ago. Yet by winning a bronze medal, she had won a place in the national camp.Its a great opportunity for the 21-year-old, who only began boxing a little over a year ago. Her hometown, Haldwani in Uttarakhand, has just one boxing ring and few partners. Bist had competed only in a couple of state tournaments before the nationals - her first ever. The bronze was unexpected. At the national camp, she hopes to get better facilities and the chance to spar with the best in the country. Ive told my mother about it but I havent really decided what I need to pack. Going to Delhi is a very big thing for me, she says.There is a similar mood of anticipation tempered with anxiety in the boxing community in India. After four years of administrative chaos, the newly formed federation has managed to conduct the womens boxing nationals. Not counting 2014, when the short-lived Boxing India conducted a tournament which never had official sanction, the Haridwar tournament was the first womens nationals in over three years.Yes, there were a few glitches. The scoring was dodgy for a few bouts. The scoring machines were non-functional for the majority of the tournament, resulting in the judges scoring by hand. There were more than a few dodgy decisions. Each time officials would ask for understanding. We are holding a tournament after a long time. Just have a little patience, was the stock response. Yet the overwhelming feeling is of relief. That finally perhaps Indian boxing, and at least womens boxing - which went from a bronze medal at the 2012 Olympics to no qualifiers in Rio -- may have finally halted its downward slide.Boxing mar hi gayi thi (boxing had died), says Soniya Chahal, who won gold in the 57 kg division. Our coach would say we had to keep training because one day the federation would start functioning once again, and thats the only reason we kept training. Im just happy we can compete in the nationals once more, she says.Others believe the tournament has done even better than they had hoped. It has been above expectations, says Sagar Mal Dhayal. The Dronacharya award-winning coach had feared that the lack of youth and junior tournaments conducted over the past four years would have caused talent to dry up. Because there were no tournaments being conducted, it was hard to know whether we had any fresh talent coming up. At the national camp, we were seeing the same faces. In Haridwar, I was wondering what kind of talent we would get considering we hadnt held youth and junior national tournaments for the last four years. I thought this sport was finished. But it isnt, he says.Dhayal reckons nearly a quarter of the faces he is seeing at the nationals are boxers he has never seen before. On the day of the final, six of the ten gold medallists were competing in their first national championships.Some states have, however, scripted better survival tales than others. Haryana boxers featured in 8 of the ten finals, with four boxers boxing in their first nationals. Yet the lack of polish was telling in several cases. In the final of the womens 64kg, Jyoti of Haryana suffered a TKO loss in the final round despite twice forcing a standing eight count on her opponent - Simranjeet of Punjab. I should have kept my guard up but I let myself be open. If I had more experience playing big tournaments, I would have kept my cool, said Jyoti, who was also competing in her first senior national championships.Despite the setbacks, Haryana teams coach Jagdish Singh says it was imperative to get new blood into the sport. If we want to target the 2018 Asian and Commonwealth Games and the 2020 Olympics, we cant count on the boxers we have right now. Their careers will not last another four years. The girls who have come up at these nationals are the ones we must groom, says the man who once coached Vijender Singh and Akhil Kumar at Bhiwani.Sarjubala Devi of Manipur, who won the 48kg light flyweight gold - her third national title, says the tournament was important simply to let boxers know where they stand. As a boxer, unless you compete in tournaments, its not possible to know what your level is. You know whether you are performing to your expectations or whether you have to work harder, she says.The womens tournament completed, coach Dhayal says the same must now also be done for the other categories. We have to conduct the mens tournament and also have the youth and junior tournaments as well. The season ends by March, so we need to hold another five tournaments in that time, says Dhayal.That sense of urgency has been appreciated by the federation. We are conducting the mens nationals from December 9th and we will be conducting the youth nationals for both men and women at the end of the month in New Delhi. We plan to host the junior tournaments by February next year, promises Ajai Singh, the president of the BFI. Singh says the federation has taken note of some of the contentious decisions in the Haridwar tournament and is conducting seminars ahead of the mens tournament to help judges come to better grips with the scoring patterns.Meanwhile, the federation will be conducting the national camp for women beginning on December 10. While only the medal-winners are normally considered for selection, this time the net is being cast wider. Apart from the forty medallists at Haridwar, another thirty boxers will also be included. Singh vouches for the quality of the camp, which will also feature 16 coaches - making it the biggest ever organized by any boxing federation in India. They will get the best possible facilities, coaching, scientific practices, masseurs, sports psychologists and nutritionists, he says.During the camp trials will be held to select a team for an international tournament in Russia in January next year. Ajai Singh says it will only be the first of many the federation plans its boxers will participate in. Its very important we dont lose this momentum. We are looking for our boxers to participate in as many tournaments as possible, he says.He promises that the lack of planning which had dogged Indian boxers over the past few years will be no more. Singh claims that a calendar leading up to the 2020 Olympics has been drafted. Singh admits that the federation is racing against time. We have less than a year for the Asian championships and less than a couple of years for the Asian games and commonwealth championships. We have to play catch up after many years. We have to be in a hurry, he says.Dhayal, who also coaches the Railways team puts it more succinctly. We have been stuck at the platform for many years. Now we need to be like a Rajdhani train.Ajai Singh is bullish about the countrys prospects. This isnt rocket science. Theres no reason why we cant get our boxing program going, he says.Bist though, is modest about what the bronze at Haridwar means. For her simply making the national camp is a massive achievement and perhaps the first step to greater success. At the nationals I compared myself to some of the senior boxers and I realized how much my game needs to improve. Im really excited to be taking part in my first national camp. I hope I learn a lot from the senior boxers over there. Perhaps I can turn my bronze into gold the next time we have the nationals, she says.Jack Ham Womens Jersey .C. at the helm of the top team in the Eastern Conference. His tenure as the GM in Vancouver was all too brief. Though he led the Canucks to what was then a franchise record-shattering campaign in just his second season, Nonis was gone and replaced one year later. 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Jim Rutherford, President and General Manager of the Carolina Hurricanes, announced Wednesday that the team would assign Swedish forward Elias Lindholm to his nations team for the upcoming tournament.Katie Taylor, the 2012 Olympic gold medalist, will make her professional debut at Wembley Arena on Nov. 26.The Irishwoman competed at two Olympics and after the surprise of not earning a medal at Rio in August has decided to enter the paid ranks.Taylor, 30, from Bray, is also due to box at the Manchester Arena on Dec. 10 when Briton Anthony Joshua is due to defend his IBF world heavyweight title for a second time, expected to be against American Eric Molina.As well as her Olympic success, Taylor also won five world titles and six European titles in a 13-year amateur career.When I first dreamt of Olympic gold, female boxing was practically unknown, said Taylor, who lost to Finlands Mira Potkonen in the 60kg quarter-finals in Rio.Now because of my journey and the incredible supporters who came along with me, female boxing is as much part of the fabric of the Olympics as its male counterpart.Now I want to do the same for the professional sport and I hope those who have supported me along the way will come along with me.dddddddddddd Im excited for the road ahead.Taylor is a huge star in her native Ireland and her move to professional boxing could be followed by others.I met Katie for the first time last week and was fascinated by her desire to not just win world titles but to break down the barriers of womens boxing, she is an incredible role model, said promoter Eddie Hearn.Taylor follows American Claressa Shields into professional boxing. Shields became the first American boxer to win consecutive Olympic gold medals when the 21-year-old from Flint won the middleweight tournament in Rio. She is due to make her pro debut on the undercard of the Sergey Kovalev-Andre Ward show at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas on Nov. 19.British flyweight Nicola Adams, another gold medal winner at the 2012 and 2016 Olympics, is also considering turning professional.v. 19.British flyweight Nicola Adams, a' '