KATHMANDU: Nepali Boxers Dinesh Shrestha and Rajan Shilpakar are on Monday leaving for Italy to participate in the AIBA World Boxing Championship slated for September 1-12.

Dinesh will compete in the 57kg weight category while Rajan will play 75kg bout in Milan. Both players have been selected as per their performance in fifth National Games held last April in Kathmandu where both the boxers clinched gold medals.

Dinesh, adjudged as best boxer in the fifth National Games, is ranked No 1 in Nepali. Nepal’s No 3 Rajan got the chance to represent in the event after No 2 Nepali boxer Sudesh Manandhar was injured in an accident. Chief coach Prachanda Sharma will also be accompanying the team.

“Nepali team is also scheduled to undergo a 15-day training course conducted separately for players and coaches. The training commences from August 10 in Rome,” said Rajeev Shrestha, General Secretary for Nepal Boxing Associaion (NBA).

Nepal is participating in the tournament after 15 years. Earlier, three boxers participated in the tournament held in Bangkok in 1994. According to NBA President Rabi Raj Thapa, AIBA has been restructuring world boxing from

2006 by setting up a new trend. “AIBA has established a Global Training

and Research Centre in Canada which provides scholarships to 28 boxers from Asia.”

“Our team got the opportunity to participate in the event under the scholarship scheme,” added Thapa. Thapa said that Nepal’s participation will give a

better exposure ahead of the South Asian Games (SAG) to be held in Bangladesh in January.

The boxers were initially rejected the visas but were granted in their second attempt, thanks to the initiation from the NBA. The NBA President

Thapa bade farewell to the team at the National Sports Council here today.