Indian boxing team reaches Dubai for Asian C’ship
New Delhi, May 22 (PTI): The Indian boxing team, featuring the likes of M C Mary Kom (51kg) and Amit Panghal (52kg), reached Dubai to compete in the Asian Boxing Championships aboard an “air-bubble” flight, which had to stay mid-air longer than scheduled as administrative paperwork delayed its landing. The tournament starts on Monday with the draws lined up for Sunday. It is the only major competition that the boxers will get before the July-August Olympics given the COVID-19 restrictions in place around the globe.
The team reached Dubai on Saturday after their flight was held up mid air for over two hours because of a delay in the clearance of paperwork which approved the team’s arrival in Dubai.
“There was some confusion regarding the approval letter for the trip which was eventually sorted thanks to the intervention of the Indian Embassy in the UAE. The flight took a while to land but the boxers have now reached their hotel,” a source close to the team told PTI.
The approval was required as the UAE has imposed a ban on flights from India in view of the heavy COVID-19 caseload here.
The Boxing Federation of India issued a statement, thanking the Indian ambassador to the UAE for his assistance but did not get into details of what caused the delay in the flight’s landing.
