Meet the Indian Male & Female Boxing Squad for Commonwealth Games

In the recent times, Indian boxers have earned a good reputation in various international boxing competitions, including the commonwealth games. Both male and female boxers from India have performed well at international stage recently. There are huge hopes from the boxers this time and they are expected to earn a few medals in Glasgow, Scotland.  Out of the 101 medals India won in last commonwealth games 7 were from boxing. Not sure about this edition of the games but I wish the boxing team good luck and hopefully they could increase the count this time and reach double figures.

Let me introduce you to the male and female boxing squad for India this Commonwealth games.

Male Boxers from India for Glasgow Commonwealth Games:

• Devendro Singh - This guy from Manipur won gold at the Bocskai Invitation Tournament in Hungary.
• Shiva Thapa - This boxer from Assam has got various medals at junior level and was the youngest boxer to qualify for 2012 London Olympics.
• Manoj Kumar - Manoj Kumar won Gold medal for Indian in 2010 CWG games and he also won bronze medal in 2007 and 2013 Asian Championships.
• Mandeep Jangra - This guy might be the trump card this year in the 69 kg category.
• Vijender Singh: Vijendar is perhaps the only boxer in India who is recognized by masses. A winner of bronze medal in both Olympics and Word Champions, he is the most popular boxer in India.
• Sumit Sangwan - Sumit is a known face at state and national levels. We wish him good luck at international level as well.
• Dinesh Kumar - Got silver medal in Asian games.
• Praveen More - High hopes on him in the +91 kg category.
   

Female Boxers from India for Glasgow Commonwealth Games: Female boxing is making a debut to the Commonwealth games and this is a nice time for female boxer to make a statement here.

• Pinki Jangra: This boxer from Haryana qualified to play for India after defeating the 5 time world champion and Olympic Bronze medal winner M C Mary Kom in the trials. Mary Kom was on a long break from Boxing after giving birth to her third child. Mary Kom was expecting a comeback but she'll have to wait for a while. Hopefully Pinki Jangra will meet the expectation of the country and perform well in the games.
• Sarita Devi: Sarita Devi has won a silver medal in World Championship. She has been consistent performer and winning medals in Asian Women Boxing Championship since 2001.
• Pooja Rani: Her rise in the boxing is just like a movie story. With opposition from her father in taking the game as a profession, this girl has yet lot more to achieve. 

Indian Hockey Women’s Team leaves for Commonwealth Games

With less than a fortnight left for the commonwealth games to start in Glasgow, the Indian women’s hockey team today left for Scotland today. Commonwealth games will start on 23rd of this months and the Indian female hockey team will have sufficient time left to accommodate themselves to the conditions there and get the necessary preparations done.

Indian team have left the country on a high with recent win over Malaysia (6-0 series whitewash). The first match, female hockey team will play against Canada on 24-July. The other teams they will play include New Zealand, Trinidad & Tobago and South Africa. Trinidad & Tobago hockey team got the entry to this year commonwealth games after Pakistan team didn’t send the hockey teams.
In the last commonwealth games the team was unable to make it to the next round of semi-finals but this year team is focused on making it to the finals. The coach Neil Hawgood and the captain Ritu, both are very positive about the team fitness and form this time.

News about Men’s hockey team: Sardar Singh has been retained as captain of India Men’s hockey team for the commonwealth games.

Our best wishes to both the teams. 

Who would grab maximum medals in Glasgow Commonwealth Games

Now its less than 100 days for the 2014 Commonwealth Games to start and I'm excited who will top the points tally this time. In the 2010 commonwealth games there were held at New Delhi, India the toppers in point table were Australia (177), India(101), England (142) and Canada (75).

Australia, England has been consistent performers in Commonwealth game, but the hosts India were the surprise package as they get the best ever performance in the games history. Now we all have to see if it was only the home advantage or really the standards of the games and athletes in India is improving.

As per my opinion this time India can slip out of top 5 whereas Australia, Canada and UK would manage to be in top 5. Maybe South Africa could be a surprise entry to the top 5.

Lets wait for the games to start and we'll get to see the winner of Glasgow Commonwealth Games soon.

Indian Festivsal Season & Queens Baton Relay

"We look forward very much to bringing the baton and sharing our excitement and enthusiasm for the Commonwealth Games with the people of India next week, as planned" This is the message from the Glasgow 2014 Commonwealth Committee however Queens baton relay might face some problems in Delhi due the festival season.

The baton is schedule to visit India next week and then continue the journey to around 71 participation nations. The baton contains queens message which she will read on the opening ceremony of the games. The hand written message read by her majesty, the queen marks the opening of the Commonwealth games.

The Indian authorities have already told the commonwealth representative about the inability to hold the baton relay in Delhi, which coincides with the major Hindu festival called Dushehra. Dushera is celebrated with great job in India. It marks the victory of Lord Rama over Ravana, this day there can be traffic problems as people come out to see the fireworks held throughout the country.

Taking the immediate steps, the 2014 Commonwealth Games organisers  in Glasgow have already sent a team to India. The team is given the task to avoid any potential issues with the Baton Relay.

Sounds like this baton relay problem might be resolved by the organisers and IOA however another problem Glasgow commonwealth if facing that rumours are there that Gambia might withdraw or not participate in the Glasgow 2014 Commonwealth Games.

Glasgow Commonwealth Games 2014 Venues, the tracks, grounds & stadiums

There is still a couple of months left for the Glasgow Commonwealth Games 2014 to start and the commonwealth organizing committee is doing a great job. Almost all the venues, roads etc are expected to get ready months in advance. In this commonwelath games 71 nations/regions will compete in total of 17 sports. This event will run for 11 days and the locations where these 17 sports contests would  take place (indoor or outdoor) are mentioned below:

Tollcross International Swimming Centre
Located at Tollcross Park in Glasgow’s East End, this simming centre has been upgraded recently with competion, recreation, training and fitness facilities. There is a capacity of 2000 spectator seats.

Glasgow National Hockey Centre
Up to the international standards this will feature the hockey matches and serves as new headquarters for Sotland hocket training etc. Also read T&T hockey team to play in Commonwelath 2014 after Pakistan teams exclusion

Scotstoun Sports Campus
This will host squash, table tennis games. Has a facility of 2500 seats for spectators alongwith gym, pool, TT, Badminton courts, running track, fitness centres etc.

Kelvingrove Lawn Bowls CentreFor Lawn bowls competitions, this centre has been upgraded recently.

Other venues includes:

• Cathkin Braes Mountain Bike Trails
• The Hydro
• The Barry Buddon Shooting Centre
• Emirates Arena, including the Sir Chris Hoy Velodrome
• Strathclyde Country Park
• Hampden Park
• Royal Commonwealth Pool
• Celtic Park
• The Athletes’ Village

Kalmadi not eligible for Indian Olympic Association polls

Suresh Kalmadi, V.K. Verma and Lalit Bhanot all cannot contest the umcoming IOA elections. The Indian Olympic Association polls are scheduled on 25^th November and present President Kalmari has expressed his desire to contest again.  Apart from not being eligible for the election these three may also be suspended from the current roles. 

Kalmadi and others are already is facing corruption charges and even has served few months in Jail ans preventive measures.  Now it’d be interesting to see who will contest the election. For sure we’ll have a new IOA president, corrupt or not cannot be guaranteed. 

Other news about Commonwealth games:

• Venues for 2014 Glasgw commonwealth games has been made accessible to general public.
• Women’s Boxing Event included to the first time in Commonwealth games
• Hampden Park may be closed for one year in lieu of 2014 Glasgow preparations
• Mascot for Glasgow 2014 Commonwealth Games called "Clyde" revealed

Commonwelath Games Host listed among top ten sporting cities

As a follower of this Common Wealth Games Blog and a fan of commonwealth games you would be glad to hear that Glasgow, the city which is going to host the 2014 commonwealth games has been listed among top 10 sporting cities in the world. This was announced at the famous and prestigious SportBusiness Ultimate Sports City Awards 2012.

You will also feel proud to hear that its not the first time that a commonwealth games host city has achieved this honor. Other cities to achieve this are Melbourne and Manchester.

This is in fact a great new to hear and with games just around 2 years to go it gives a strong message that sporting mega event at Glasgow, Scotland would be a huge huge success.

That was the latest update, will post more news about the even soon.