Four Olympic-bound boxers included in TOPS

Asian silver-winner Ashish Kumar (75kg) and Asian Games bronze-winner Satish Kumar (+91kg) have been included in a group which already featured Amit Panghal (52kg), Manish Kaushik (63kg), and Vikas Krishan (69kg) among the Tokyo-bound.

New Delhi: Four Olympic-bound Indian boxers -- two men and as many women -- have been included in the sports ministry's Target Olympic Podium Scheme (TOPS), the Sports Authority of India (SAI) said on Monday.

World bronze-medallist Simranjeet Kaur (60kg), Asian medallist Pooja Rani (75kg) joined M C Mary Kom in the elite group.

Asian silver-winner Ashish Kumar (75kg) and Asian Games bronze-winner Satish Kumar (+91kg) have been included in a group which already featured Amit Panghal (52kg), Manish Kaushik (63kg), and Vikas Krishan (69kg) among the Tokyo-bound.

Lovlina Borgohain and Kavinder Singh Bisht are also part of the core group.

"Nikhat Zareen (51kg), Sonia Chahal (57kg) and Shiva Thapa (63kg) were moved to the TOPS Developmental group from the Core Group," the SAI stated.

Zareen participates in the same weight category as Mary Kom while Thapa competes with Kaushik for the 63kg slot.