By Ritu Sejwal

NEW DELHI: Indian boxing has been in news for all the wrong reasons since the conclusion of the London Games -- from the ban on the federation to Beijing Olympics bronze medallist Vijender Singh finding himself in the midst of drug abuse allegations.

However, with a number of tournaments lined up this year, chief coach Gurbax Singh Sandhu believes it is time to look ahead with hope.

"The bad times are over. It's time for the sport to get back to normalcy and move towards positivity from here on," Sandhu, who will accompany the Indian team to Cyprus, told TOI on Monday.

A total of 20 pugilists, divided in two batches, are set to test their skills in the international arena after a gap of eight months. A team of 10 boxers on Monday left for Khabarovsk, Russia to participate in the Konstantin Korotkov Memorial International tournament from May 15 to 20, while the other group, scheduled to depart late on Tuesday, will participate in FXMT International Limassol Boxing Cup from May 15 to 20. A team of 16 pugilists will undergo a training programme in Cuba later this month.

"We have been training hard but the boys' progress has been slow due to lack of competition -- they last competed at the London Games. We are waiting to see how they will perform given the number of rule changes brought in by AIBA (world body)," Sandhu said.

AIBA had decided in March to drop the headgear and had introduced a 10-point scoring system. "Everyone is taking these test events seriously in the build-up the Asian Championship (June 30- July 9) and World Championship (October). In order to get accustomed to the new rules, the boys have trained without the head gear in the training sessions," the coach said.

Talking about the repercussions of the new rule, Manoj Kumar, a pre-quarterfinalist at the London Olympics, said: "Four boxers were seriously injured during the trials. A boxer hurt his eye while another boxer hurt one of his ears and forehead. The new rule has made the sport injury prone but the success and failure of the rule can only be determined after participating in a few international tournaments."

Team (For Russia): T Nanao Singh (49kg), Sunil (52kg), S Thapa (56kg), V Malik (64kg), V Santhosh (64kg), Dilbag (69kg), Kuldeep (75kg), Rahul (81kg), Jasveer (91kg), Satish (+91kg); (For Cyprus): Devendro (49kg), Madan (52kg), D Rao (56kg), Anil (64kg), Manoj (64kg), Mandeep(69kg), Sukhdeep (75kg), Jagroop (81kg), Dinesh (91kg), Praveen (+91kg)