CHENNAI: Indian shooters have opened the doors for the future with young guns punching above weight. Paddlers, too, have exceeded expectations. But Indian boxers have been a quiet lot. Ten men and women entered the Asiad arena amid high hopes and just two ensured medals by reaching the semifinals — veteran Vikas Krishan and Amit Panghal. A modest figure, for a sport which has flirted with gold-standard in the past and aspires to join the club at the top level. In 2014, India’s boxing haul was one gold and four bronze medals. This year medals on offer are fewer, since three men’s events have been dropped.
On the first day (August 24) itself, one of India’s biggest hopes, Gaurav Solanki, fell. Experienced pro Manoj Kumar’s victory acted as a soothing balm, but his run was cut short two days later. Former World Championship bronze medallist Shiva Thapa, making a comeback after missing the CWG, lost on the same day. Dheeraj Rangi displayed grit but fell just short.
India high-performance director Santiago Nieva is aware his wards have to dig deeper. “We need to take this experience and see where we are lacking. It’s too early to make conclusions. It’s a continuous process and ultimately, we want to send a strong unit to the 2020 Olympics,” Nieva told Express.In Asia, India’s rivals are mainly from Kazakhstan, Thailand, Uzbekistan and China. The Swedish coach felt some of the boxers, like Solanki, were overwhelmed by the experience of rivals. “There are a lot of talented pugilists. Even though Solanki is a CWG gold medallist and has been in the senior circuit for a year or so, the experience was lacking.”
What was heartbreaking for Nieva & Co was the medal-less show in the women’s corner. Even in the absence of MC Mary Kom, the presence of Sonia Lather and Sarjubala Devi meant India were not short on talent. However, these two and Pavitra could only go as far as the quarterfinals. “It’s a big setback,” Nieva remarked. It is the first duck for the women’s team since boxing was added to the Asian Games in 2010.
But Nieva remains positive. “The women came in with high expectations, but unfortunately they could not quite deliver. Sometimes you win, sometimes you lose.”
He has already set his sights on Women’s World Championships to be held in India in November. “We want to do well in the Worlds later this year and win as many medals as possible.” For now, Nieva is focussed on the two survivors and hopeful that they can go as far as possible. “The first step is to change the colour of the medal.”
Vikas had to battle to assure a third successive Asian Games medal, edging China’s Touheta Erbieke Tanglatihan 3-2 on Wednesday. In the process, a cut suffered in the previous round was split wide open. “After the second round I started feeling the cut and didn’t want to go all out. I decided to defend and let him go for the punches.”
anmol@newindianexpress.com
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