Back in familiar settings

“From the very beginning,I wanted to play professionally. Boxing was my passion,and I wanted to earn success in that. Professional boxing always attracted me — it is a different game altogether,” Dilbag says.

A promising youngster till a few years back,Dilbag made a mark early on. His elder brother was a friend of Commonwealth Games gold medallist Akhil Kumar,and the latter encouraged him to pursue boxing seriously. “Akhil bhai mere guru hain. Aaj tak unki hi baat suni hai,unhi ki wajah se boxing kar raha hun,(Akhil is my teacher. I have listened to him only all this while and am boxing only because of him)”,he says.

After basic training,Dilbag joined Sports Authority of India’s Bhiwani centre for further training in 2001. He kept winning in domestic meets before achieving international success at the 2007 Commonwealth Championships in Liverpool,where he won bronze.

But if that tour was the beginning of his success graph,it also marked the beginning of the end of a chapter in Dilbag’s life. Dilbag went his own way in search of professional glory,foregoing a chance to represent India in major events,including the Olympics. That is not a time he is too willing to talk about. “Through a friend,I met the coach and physical trainer of the club started by Amir Khan. I wanted to get into professional boxing,so I trained with them for about six months after winning the Commonwealth Championship bronze. Therafter,I was told to return to India and then come back with proper documents to avoid legal hassles,” Dilbag says.

Out of work
That may have been a good advice,but it meant DST was to be out of boxing for almost two years. The British High Commission rejected his visa application thrice for overstaying his visit in 2007 without informing the officials there,and the Indian Boxing Federation (IBF) threw him out of national camps for his brief,unofficial tryst with pro-boxing.

“I didn’t know what to do. For almost a whole year,I went from place to place,trying to keep myself fit with occasional training in Thailand,Singapore and other places.

“I also helped out a few friends involved in export business. Basically,anything to keep myself occupied,” he says,realising fully well the wasted year. Last year,finally,he landed a job with the Railways. “I accepted my mistake and apologised. The federation took me back in,I now have a job and even though I couldn’t compete here for Railways (his namesake,Dilbagh Singh sr,is an eight-time national champion in the 69 kg category,same as DST) I got an entry through the Delhi team,” he said.

However,despite all this,Dilbag is keen on giving professional boxing another shot. But this time around,he wants to go the proper way. “I am happy here,but I want to give myself another chance. I will try till 2013 in amateur boxing; if I succeed internationally,fine. If I don’t,I will try once again for professional boxing. That is something I love. Even now,during training,me and Jitender Kumar spar without gears in the evening,just to test ourselves. Professional boxing requires more stamina,strength and intelligence,but it also gives you more freedom,” he says.

With the World Series of Boxing coming up,does he see a future for himself there? After all,it will be a semi-professional event. But Dilbag is not impressed. “To each his own. But personally,I am not interested in WSB. Somehow,I am not convinced by it. Either I will be purely amateur or completely professional,” he says.

The second chance DST wanted has come. He,though,is still awaiting another shot at professional glory.

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