'Boxers have the talent to win medals'

India’s boxers have the talent and technique to win medals, feels chief coach Gurbax Singh Sandhu

If Vijender Si­ngh’s Olympic medal in Beiji­ng, four summers ago, ignited boxing from the relatively back-watery terrains of Bhiwani to the main stream, London could be the stopover for India’s pugilists to assert the searing precision and nerving pugnacity of their pu­nches. As India’s strongest-ev­er squad, literally and figurativ­ely, embark to the shores of their once imperial masters, the eight-member team wouldn’t be content making numbers, but would want to reiterate that they are competent and motivated.

If once Vijender’s was the imposing silhouette that embodied Indian boxing, it’s no longer so. There is a posse of young bo­x­ers braced to embrace what could be their biggest-ever tournament, buoyed to deliver at the grandest of stages, and MC Mary Kom a five-time world champion, also a mother of two, whose Olympic dream is on the brink of fulfilment.

Though Vijender’s graph has flat-lined of late, coach Gurbax Singh Sandhu assured the former world champion is India’s best medal-wi­nning shot. “He struggled for qualification and might not have been at his best in the last two years. But he is technically compact and is in good sh­ape. He has been working very hard and is close to his peak. There is no reason he can’t repeat his Beiji­ng medal,” said national coach Gurb­ax Singh Sandhu.

But such is the depth in Indian bo­xing that looking beyond Vijender is­n’t a deviation. Welterweight boxer Vikas Krishan portends promise.

The 20-year, after buckling the wo­rld junior title, made a seamless transition into the senior category, bugling his arrival with the Asian Games gold medal. “The boy is talen­t­ed and men­t­ally strong. But he sh­ould be patient and mix up his tempo against ex­perie­nced boxers. However, a tough draw awaits him as there are a lot of experienced boxers in his category,” obs­erved Sandhu.

As talented is 19-year-old bantamweight boxer Shiv Thapa, the country’s youngest ever bo­xer to compete in an Olympics. “He is mature beyond his years and has a good technique. He beat fo­rmer world champion Detelin Dalakliev to win his first int­e­r­national medal despite tr­ailing early on. His composure sh­o­uld benefit him and the team,” po­inted out Sandhu.

Light heavyweight boxer Sumit Sangwan’s might be a surpr­i­­se entry, but his merit is beyond doubt. The 20-year-old out-boxed the experien­ced Dine­sh Kumar in the selection trials to the Asian Olympic Qualifiers in Ka­zakhs­t­an, where he sealed an Ol­ympic berth.

L Devendro Singh (49 kg), who qualified at the expense of Nanao Si­ngh, is another precocious youngster, primed to impact. So are Manoj Kumar (64kg) and Jai Bhagwan (60kg). “You can’t pinpoint who would win a medal. Last Olympics, odds were on Akhil (Kumar) to win a medal, but it was Vijender who did it. So a lot depends on the draw, frame of mind in a particular match and of course lu­ck. Akhil, I would say, was very un­l­ucky not to have won a medal. We have the quality to win medals, but whether or how many medals we win depends on a lot of factors. All I can say is that we will make India proud,” said Sandhu.

The training in Ireland was an id­eal preparation for the boxers. “The facilities were top class and we all en­joyed it. They trained rigorously and got acclimatised to the conditio­ns pretty fast,” he said. In as youth-ce­ntric a side as India’s, MC Mary Kom is almost a motherly figure. But many reckon the 29-year-old is the likeliest to fetch a medal.