Boxam International: COVID-19 Case Forces 3 Indian Men Boxers To Pull Out Of Finals

Olympic-bound Ashish Kumar (75kg) tested positive for COVID-19 and as a result, his roommates Mohammed Hussamuddin (57kg) and Sumit Sangwan (81kg) were also forced to withdraw from their finals.

Olympic-bound Ashish Kumar (left) tested positive for the virus

New Delhi, March 7: The Indian men's boxing team's final campaign at the 35th Boxam International Tournament in Castellon, Spain was derailed by a positive COVID-19 case in the side, resulting in three withdrawals from the summit clashes.

Olympic-bound Ashish Kumar (75kg) tested positive for the virus and as a result of being his roommates, Mohammed Hussamuddin (57kg) and Sumit Sangwan (81kg) were forced to withdraw from the finals on Sunday (March 7) night.

All three of them ended with silver medals which could have been gold but for the unforeseen circumstances. "What started as a great competition has ended in an anti-climax," Indian boxing's High Performance Director Santiago Nieva told PTI from Castellon.

Ashish is "asymptomatic and is doing fine". He will serve his quarantine in Castellon for two weeks before heading back to India. Hussamuddin and Sumit have tested negative and are travelling back with the team which will land in Mumbai on Monday. Also unable to compete in the final was veteran Satish Kumar (+91kg) due to "sickness".

Manish Kaushik (63kg) ended up being the sole gold medal winner for the side, beating Denmark's Nikolai Terteryan in the summit clash to complete a brilliant comeback from a knee injury which kept him out of action for a year.