National C’Ships: Ladakh Enters New Era, Makes Boxing Debut

Saliem Malik might have lost his 63kg first round to Jharkhand’s Ravi Soy, but he was proud to have made history by becoming the first boxer from Ladakh to represent the union territory at the National boxing championships here on Friday.

Following the Union Government’s decision to dilute Article 370 and bifurcate Jammu and Kashmir into two UTs, boxing enthusiasts in Ladakh swung into action to put in place the Ladakh Amateur Boxing Association (LABA).

However, completing the formalities to be an affiliated unit of the Boxing Federation of India (BFI) was not possible in a short period. The LABA officials tried their best and were rewarded when the federation allowed them to field their boxers under the name BFI-Ladakh. “It doesn’t matter whether we have affiliation. The biggest satisfaction is our boxers are getting to represent Ladakh. This will spur the growth of the sport in the UT,” LABA secretary Tenzing Chogyal told Sportstar.

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