BENGALURU: In the last few years, Indian boxer Manish Kaushik does not remember the last time he spent such a long period with his family in Devsar village, Bhiwani district of Haryana.
The coveted ‘ghar ka khana’ is quite rare for modern-day sportspersons, who are normally in national camps or abroad for competitions. Though he is home, Kaushik is in no mood to waste time. He booked his Tokyo Olympics ticket last month and is already looking at ways to be a step ahead of his competitors. Almost every day, he scrolls upon different videos over the internet of pugilists, who have qualified in the 63kg men’s category.
“Despite the lockdown, you can say that the preparation for Tokyo has not stopped. I am watching videos of qualified boxers in my category. I watch how they bout, their style and so on. I hope such things will come in handy if and when I get to face them in Tokyo as I would have an idea as to how they fight. I know our coaches will also show videos about them in the camp, but I am doing at home too,” Kaushik told this newspaper.
The Boxing Federation of India has made arrangements to ensure their boxers do not get hampered. The coaches, via video calls, are keeping track of the pugilists’ fitness, providing them schedule as to what they should do at home. The boxers also need to send their training videos -- includes running (if they have safe space to run), skipping and other exercises -- in a certain WhatsApp group.
Kaushik asks his brother to make videos while he trains and sends it later in the group. This could be a regular routine for some more weeks with the 21-day lockdown, which started from March 25, expected to extend further. Hence, he is also keeping a close tab on his weight and does not want to exceed his weight class.
“We are given a plan and have to follow all the instructions. We have to send our training videos too. They want us to be around 80 percent fit or so when the camp resumes, whenever that is. If we go to the camp unfit, getting back to fitness would take another month or so, which will be a waste of time. I am keeping check of my weight too as it is very important in boxing,” said Kaushik, who has not fully recovered from his bicep injury, which he sustained in the last Olympic qualifiers in Jordan last month.
Despite the pain, he did not give up in future bouts too and it has borne fruit as he defeated Harrison Garside in the all-important box-off. The boxer was in a bit of pain even after returning to India but is gradually improving. And with the Olympics postponed by a year due to the prevailing situation of COVID-19, it has come as a blessing in disguise for the boxer.
“I am in touch with the doctor from our national camp and he tells me what to do to. I take medicines as asked. I can sense there is good improvement now. The Olympics postponement will allow me more time to get in the best shape and fitness. I will get more time to recover,” said Kaushik.