Indians start on the wrong foot

Before embarking on the trip to Chicago, national coach Gurbaksh Singh Sandhu had provided little hope...

Before embarking on the trip to Chicago, national coach Gurbaksh Singh Sandhu had provided little hope for the Indian pugilists at the World Boxing Championships 8212; the first qualifiers for the Beijing Games.

Sandhu8217;s contention was that lack of experience at a meet of such a magnitude could dampen India8217;s ambitions. And he was not wide off the mark as news trickling in from Chicago confirms.

The Indian campaign at the world meet began on a below-par note with reigning national champion S Suresh Singh biting the dust in the opening round of the bantam weight category.

Suresh went down 4-9 to Hungarian David Oltvanyi. But everything is not lost yet as seven others are yet to open their campaigns.

In fact, India received a bigger blow even before the boxers set to take their flight to Chicago when Som Bahadur Pun, considered a good prospect with his experience, pulled out citing some personal problems. In fact, the Army pugilist had skipped even the World Military Games in Hyderabad last week where the Indian boxers excelled.

For the rest of the six in fray, the immediate aim would be to go through a couple of rounds before making the quarter final grade 8212; good enough to book their Beijing Olympics berth. With Sandhu talking about experience, the one boxer who possesses a lot of it is none other than the Commonwealth silver medallist and bronze winner at Doha 8212; Vijender.

But during the nationals, the middle-weight pugilist did admit that the world stage was not only awesome but it required steely nerves to overcome the arduous bouts. He was, however, prepared to give his best shot.

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As per the draw, the 21-year-old is slated to take on Romanian Ronald Gavril in the opening round before he starts to think of the next two rounds for the coveted quarter final place.

Along with him, another Indian 8212; AL Lakra 8212; will get into the ring in 57kg class. The Commonwealth champion8217;s job will not be easy as he is up against a tough Korean, Jae Ju-min. The Koreans are a tough nut to crack and for long they have been India8217;s nemesis.

The remaining five Indians 8212; Balbir Singh takes on Kazakh Birzham Zhakypov, Jitender Kumar 51kg meets Moldova8217;s Igori Samoilenco, Jai Bhagwan opens against Bahrain8217;s Valertino Knowles, Dilbag Singh clashes with Lithuania8217;s Roman Skerlo and Jasveer Singh takes on China8217;s Xiaoping Zhang 8212; step into the ring tomorrow.

This world meet has one of the biggest and formidable fields ever 8212; 700 boxers from 120 countries vying for Beijing berths.