Remember us,remember why we died. Go tell the Spartans,passerby,that here by Spartan law,we lie. King Leonidas. The credits roll and the movie is over,soon after the above quote is narrated in Hindi. The 300 odd soldiers lie motionless under an umbrella of arrows,annihilated by the overpowering Persian army of 10,000. Yeh hai Sparta, mutters an overwhelmed Akhil Kumar,repeating the standout line from the film 300. The cinematic adaptation of Frank Millers graphic novel may have its share of critics,but Akhil swears by it the dubbed version,that is. Movies about warriors strike a very deep and personal chord with me,because they underline the fact that no matter how much you want them to,underdogs rarely win. Most of the time,circumstances are just like the Persians in the film,they bring you down to your knees, he says. Akhil,though,wasnt always an underdog. He was once at the pinnacle of Indian boxing,the north star that shows the way. Hes not the brightest on Indian boxings horizon anymore,but it hasnt dimmed Akhils spirits. Like the protagonist in his favourite film,the need to be remembered is absolute. I started a revolution in India. My efforts helped make boxing a popular sport,when the nation did not know much about it. But nobody remembers the person who started it all. Was Mangal Pandey remembered until a movie was made about him? People remember Gandhi,and right now I am not boxings Gandhi. he says. Sitting in a local sweetshop on a sultry afternoon in Patiala,the 29-year-old reflects on his eventful career. The lemonade he has ordered lies untouched. Dressed in an oversized tee-shirt and pair of jeans ripped at the knees,Akhil adjusts the sunglasses placed over his long locks. The current look with unkempt hair and the bearded jawline is far removed from his bald and clean shaven fighting avatar. The waiters buzz by without paying a second glance. Both his form and the makeover have made the erstwhile face of the sport almost unrecognisable. 18 August 2008 is a date etched in Akhils memory for all the wrong reasons. Career-wise,it was the day that marked the beginning of his end. A win there would have taken me into the semifinals,the medal round of the Olympics. Things would have been very different today, he says,referring to the bantamweight bout at the Beijing Games he lost to Veaceslav Gojan from Moldova. India did get a medal in boxing,but it wasnt around Akhils neck. Since then,he has been overshadowed by Vijender Singh. I will never be remembered,because I dont have a medal. Mere baato mein medal ka dum nahi hai. It could have booked my spot in the halls of fame. Today,I dont blame the fact that people dont remember me, Akhil says,almost mocking himself. There is no grudge,though,against the fellow pugilist from Bhiwani,just a recurring craving for the recognition that could also have been his. That once was his. Akhil burst into the limelight during the 2006 Commonwealth Games in Melbourne,after he crouched to his knees over his opponent Bruno Julies battered body. He shed a few tears soon after,overwhelmed when the Indian national anthem played in the background,while the gold disc hung with pride around his neck. India had unearthed its boxing god. The countrys pugilists,thanks to him,were firmly in the spotlight,and their breeding grounds (Bhiwani and Patiala) became centres of excellence. A few months before the Olympics,I was seen as the ultimate medal hope in boxing. Physically too,I was at my peak. But once people saw my draw and my path to the medal round,they quickly lost confidence in me. It was then that I realised a persons true worth is forgotten quickly, Akhil recalls. Searching for his holy grail an Olympic medal he fought against both skeptics and the whos who of the category. The first match was to be against Frenchman Ali Hallab,one of the best boxers around. Akhil packed a punch,literally,decimating the French boxer 12-5. There was no resting on his laurels,though; up next was the then world No. 1,Sergei Vodopyanov of Russia. The fight went down to the wire 9-9,before the judges declared the Indian the winner on countback. Akhil had crossed the big obstacles by engineering ferocious punches,before he tripped over a relatively low-key hurdle in the form of Gojan. The Moldovan went on to win bronze,while the repercussions of Akhils loss created a never-ending domino effect. Indian boxings glory days further blossomed,but the poster boy had a new face. If I could change one thing in life,it would be that quarter-final bout. At least it would have shut those so-called experts up, he says. The boxing gurus have ever since attacked Akhils open guard style apart,declaring that his overaggressive nature did him in. Being an aggressive boxer doesnt mean Im not a thinking boxer. But that tends to happen when the chips are down,my strengths became my biggest flaws, Akhil adds. He did win a bronze at the World Cup in Moscow after the Olympics,but the decline seemed irreversible. Defeats both physical and emotional flew in thick and fast as Akhil lost in the first round of the World Championships in Milan,before exiting the Commonwealth Championships at Delhi to a 19-year-old Briton,Iain Weaver. I was leading after the first round. But just like that,my punches stopped connecting. It happened all of a sudden, he says. Injuries didnt help matters and Akhil was especially prone to them. His wrist had troubled him for long and this year,a nagging flu led to discomfort during sessions at the training camp in Patiala,followed by a bad case of rashes. But neither the itch or the strains hurt as much as his exclusion from Indias squad for the Asian Games did. I have seen many peaks,but the prolonged trough that I face each day has taught me a thing or two. The lowest point gave me a second chance, he says. It came last month when Akhil jabbed and hooked his way past the Commonwealth Games trials,despite an injured back. Akhil thanks his strong support system for that. Wife Poonam,room-mate and fellow pugilist Jitender Kumar and coach BI Fernandez from Cuba formed a tightly-knit circle of trust. Jitender helped get him in shape with regular sparring,Poonam made collages of Akhils photographs from his glory days and posted them online,while Fernandez worked overtime as Akhils mental warden. Other than the available human support,Akhil also sought for some divine help. I visited a lot of religious sites around India in the past few months,praying for my success. But I know that once I am inside the boxing ring during the Commonwealth Games in Delhi,I am all alone. So what does the defending champion expect from the Games? Akhil says philosophically. Even a bronze or a silver wont do for me as Im on a quest for gold,so I cant settle for a lesser metal. Himmat karne waalo ki haar nahi hoti (The courageous never fail in their quest). I will chant this line while I face my opponents because my aim is to be remembered for something worthwhile,like that Spartan king in the movie. From here on I know that every punch counts,and one of them can change my life. Unlike the silver screen ending of the Greek myth,Akhil still has one last roll of the dice left. The quest to be remembered remains.
