Beijing berth for Lakra

Anthresh Lalit Lakra became the first Indian boxer to qualify for the Beijing Olympics next year. When Lakra defeated...

Anthresh Lalit Lakra became the first Indian boxer to qualify for the Beijing Olympics next year. When Lakra defeated Shahin Imranov of Azerbaijan 15-9 in the featherweight category 57 kg of the World Boxing Championships in Chicago, the Army boxer had booked his place for the Games.

Lakra will take on Li Yang of China in the quarter finals tomorrow and any progress from here to the next round will be a bonus as a spot in the semi-finals will fetch him a medal. But Lakra is not thinking about it for the moment, as national coach GS Sandhu put it. 8220;He is right now preparing himself to cheer and egg on the two teammates 8212; Jitender Kumar and Jai Bhagwan 8212; to help them join him in the quarter finals.

Speaking to The Indian Express, Sandhu expressed complete satisfaction over Lakra8217;s performance. 8220;He was simply superb. He kept his cool all through the four rounds and kept his guard up, making the task of scoring tough for his opponent. His feet were moving in perfect rhythm and his combination punches were working to perfection.8221;

That, in a nutshell, was how Lakra overcame Imranov in his pre-quarter final bout. But what does the coach think of his next bout against the Chinese? 8220;Well, the Chinese boxer is good but Lakra has it in him to go past him,8221; he said.

As for Jitender, who beat Ronny Beblik of Germany 29-10 to make it to the pre-quarters, the coach feels it is going to be a big ask for the Indian. His opponent Georgy Balakshin of Russia is a big, tough guy who, on way to the pre-quarters, had accounted for Athens Olympics medallist and world champion Jerome Thomas of France.

But Sandhu feels that Jitender, with his experience, is capable of giving his best shot at Balakshin as the Indian has given a good account of himself so far. Jai Bhagwan, who is normally a cool guy next door, has a better chance against Colombian Darley Perez in the pre-quarters. The Indian had beaten Vasil Qazishvili of Ukraine 23-16 in the earlier round.

In any case, all is not lost for India as the two Olympic qualifying tournaments 8212; Bangkok January and Kazakhstan March 8212; will give the pugilists a better chance as they allow participation of only Asians. AIBA allows 62 berths from Asia and depending on how many qualify from Chicago, the rest of the places will be up for grabs.