Six boxers for Olympics qualifier at Kazakhstan

Olympic bronze medallist Vijender Singh (75 kg) and Commonwealth Games gold medallist Paramjeet Samota (+91 kg) are among India's elite men's boxers selected for the Asian Continental Olympics boxing qualification tournament at Astana, Kazakhstan, from April 5-12.

Apart from Vijender and Samota, four others -- Suranjoy Singh (52 kg), Shiva Thapa (56 kg), Sumit Sangwan (81 kg) and Manpreet Singh (91 kg) -- were selected on the basis of selection trials held at NIS, Patiala, from February 24 to 26.

In the 81 kg category, Sumit will take the place of Dinesh Kumar, a World Cup bronze medallist and CWG champion. Dinesh also represented India at the Beijing Olympics.

Shiva Thapa, meanwhile, has come in place of Akhil Kumar, a former CWG gold medallist and World Cup bronze medallist. Akhil represented India twice in the Olympics.

The Indian men's boxing team will leave for Kazakhstan on April 1 to get acclimatised.

The available quota places for the London Olympics in various weight categories at the Asian Olympics qualifying tournament are: 52 kg (4 places), 56 kg (3 places), 75 kg (4 places), 81 kg (3 places), 91 kg (1 place) and +91 kg (1 place).

The selection committee members present during the trials at Patiala included government observer M Venu (Dronacharya and Arjuna awardee), Padam Bahadur Mall (Arjuna awardee), Rajendra Prasad (Arjuna awardee), Devarajan (Arjuna awardee), Md Ali Qamar (Arjuna awardee), Jitender Kumar (Arjuna awardee), GS Sandhu (Dronacharya awardee and Chief National coach), BI Fernandez (Cuban coach), Dr CK Jerath (vice-president, IABF) and Brig. PK Muralidharan Raja (secretary-general, IABF).