Boxers packed in cages like animals

Noida: It?s the dream of every sportsman to be a champion.

But at the sub junior boxing nationals being held in Noida, the actual fight is not in the ring but out of it.

Around 400 participants at the sub junior nationals are boxed in together in one big hall.

The conditions are shockingly dirty.

Clothes and equipment are strewn everywhere and the boys have just six bathrooms between them, most of them choked.

The food and the facilities are terrible.

It?s not only the boxers who are facing a problem.

The coaches too are worried, as their wards are not getting enough rest in this mess.

They try to catch some sleep whenever they can but it is telling on their performance.

The organisers not surprisingly feel otherwise.

UP Boxing Association member Siddhart Mishra says they have made the best possible arrangements.

?We put four air conditioners in the hall for their comfort. The hall is dirty because the coaches do not enforce any discipline on their charge.?

These juniors are the future of the sport and many feel that treating them this way is making a mockery of their talent.

It?s a knockout blow that has been delivered even before they can get in the ring.