Vijender retains top spot in AIBA rankings

Olympic and World Championship bronze medal winning boxer Vijender Singh (75kg) continued his reign at the top, while Asian silver medallist Thokchom Nanao Singh (48kg) rose a couple of rungs to fourth in the latest AIBA rankings.

Vijender (75kg), who became a Commonwealth champion in March, has 2137.5 points in the list updated after the 3 Star China Cup, which was a ranking points event.

Vijender did not participate in the China Cup but given the points gap between him and his rivals, the Indian's reign at the top was hardly threatened.

Olympic silver medallist Emilio Bayeux Correa of Cuba is a distant second in the list with 1875 points.

Nanao (48kg), currently nursing a hand injury, has risen despite being out of action since January. The Manipuri, who is a former youth world champion, has 1400 points in the latest rankings.

The light fly weight list also has Commonwealth champion Amandeep Singh way down at the 54th spot, which is a drop of 10 places, with 225 points.

Asian and Commonwealth champion Suranjoy Singh (51kg) gained three places, rising to 13th with 800 points.

The President's Cup gold medallist was part of a 13-member Indian team that recently went to Cuba for a training-cum-competition trip and he fetched a silver there.

Olympian Jitender Kumar dropped three rungs to 21st in the bantam weight (54kg) list which has another Indian in the 17-year-old Shiva Thapa, who clinched a silver at the Youth World Championships earlier this month.

The Assamese has entered the rankings at the 22nd spot with 600 points.

In the soon-to-be-abolished feather weight (57kg) division, Commonwealth Games gold medallist Akhil Kumar rose one spot to ninth with 850 points.

Chhote Lal Yadav, who won a bronze in the China Cup, gained significantly, rising to 48th from 56th in the 57kg list.

In the light weight (60kg) division, newly crowned youth world champion Vikas Krishan made his entry into the rankings at 14th, which is 10 places above the much senior Commonwealth champion Jai Bhagwan.

The 17-year-old Vikas has 800 points, while Jai, also a former national champion, has 650 points.

In the light heavy weight (81kg) category, Olympian and Commonwealth champion Dinesh Kumar remained steady at the seventh spot with 1275 points.