CHENNAI: Vikas Krishan’s wish is set to become reality soon. The boxer’s request for an exposure tour to the USA has been rubber-stamped by the Sports Authority of India (SAI).
Part of the Target Olympic Podium Scheme, he has been granted a financial assistance of Rs 17.5 lakh. It’s part of Olympic preparations and this means he’ll become the first elite boxer from the country to go overseas in times of pandemic.
The Haryana pugilist, who’s expected to leave soon, will be accompanied by his coach Ronald Simms and they will train at the Alexandria Boxing Club in Virginia till November 30. It’s a massive boost for the 28-year-old, who’ll be taking part in his third Olympics in Tokyo next year.
This lift for Vikas comes thanks to Santiago Nieva (India men’s high performance director), who made the recommendation on behalf of the welterweight (69kg) boxer to SAI. Simms — who’s also the head coach at Inspire Institute of Sports (Vijayanagar) — said that he had been in touch with Nieva and he has a to-do list for Vikas in order to make him a more rounded performer inside the ring.
Vikas, a southpaw, is known to have plenty of bite in his left hand. But Simms has observed that he uses it less frequently. That is one aspect of the game that Simms is looking to change in the days to come.
“We’re going to increase his strength and coordination and his confidence in the left hand punches. I’ve observed that he mainly uses his right hand, the jab hand. He’s more confident with his right hand,” Simms noted.
Vikas, who returned to amateur fold late last year after a pro stint in the US, had brought his talent and experience to the fore during the Asia/Oceania Olympic qualifiers (Amman, Jordan), where he won an Olympic quota for India. However, he had skipped the final after getting a cut in his eye.
That was not the first time Vikas had suffered that fate. At the 2018 Asian Games, he’d experienced the same fate. Simms, who has taken note of his injury record, wants to avoid that by bolstering his awareness in crunch situations.
“We’re looking to increase his cognitive response. We want him to recognise his task quickly and react with the right decision. We are also going to work on his facial awareness. I have noticed that he ends up with cuts a lot of times. So we want to ensure that he does not get hit often,” the coach from USA said.
The only way for most athletes to gauge what they’ve learnt during training is by getting competitive action. Simms said they’ll look to get him fights with some of the top boxers.
“We need to see how he performs under pressure. When the fight comes, we want him to be cool, calm and collected and execute what he has learnt. We’re going to see a totally different Vikas in this upcoming Olympics. He’s going to surprise everybody else.”
That will be happy surprise for India, who have just two medals in Olympic history.