PRIZE FIGHTERS

They both lost in the first round, while the other two — Jitender Kumar and Diwakar Prasad — went a step further.

Now, in 2008, Vijender Singh’s name is well known. He’s a genuine sports star, a youth icon, and one of India’s brightest prospects in the gruelling arena of world boxing following his Olympic medal. Akhil, meanwhile, has graduated into the role of Indian boxing’s ‘elder statesman’ at the age of 27. With a shaved head, scars of battle on his face, he embodies the very spirit of boxing.

The four years between Athens and Beijing have been a journey of a lifetime not only for these two but for Indian boxing as a whole. From obscurity to fame, from jeers to cheers, from ridicule to respect — Vijender and Akhil have become the face of a new, confident Indian sport. “Dard se dosti ho gayi hai, I don’t feel any pain now,” laughs Akhil, when asked about his journey from Athens to Beijing to Moscow last week, where he won a bronze medal in the amateur World Cup. He was one of four boxers who returned with medals from the Russian capital, where Vijender couldn’t make it due to injury.

Boxing is not something India used to be known for. India’s Olympic medal dreams never figured a boxer. But as soon as medal hopes started growing in Beijing, there was a rush to celebrate boxing as the next big thing. “No one bothered about how we did until the Olympics. In fact, even then, there was no buzz around Indian boxing till the results started coming in,” says Akhil, fresh from his umpteenth TV interview.

“It’s not just about Akhil or Vijender. People forget AL Lakra, after all, he was the first to qualify for the Olympics, and he beat the Athens gold medallist. So it’s about the entire boxing scenario in the country,” he adds. “There was a time when people used to tell me I’m not good enough. I wanted to prove them wrong. I was told by trainer Heath Mathews’s father, ‘Make your weakness your strength’. I never forgot those words. There’s no point in shouting from the rooftops about how good you are. You need to produce results. Pehle kuch karo, fir bolne ki zarurat nahin rehti.”

Vijender echoes the sentiment. “Before my an Olympic medal, everything I did was criticised. It used to affect me a lot. But I realised the best thing to do was to let my punches do the talking.”

Now the attention is not just coming from within India. Across the world, there is a new-found respect for Indian boxers. Where once drawing one in a major event would be welcomed as a walkover, now there is concern. And with comprehensive inputs from Cuban coach BI Fernandez, who has been associated with Indian boxing for some time now on an on-off basis, the traditional powerhouses in the sport — Cuba, Thailand, and the erstwhile Soviet Union states — have become circumspect.

“There used to be an arrogance in the opponent whenever an Indian boxer entered the ring. He was considered dead meat. Now, they respect us, they try to learn about us — not just me but every Indian boxer. They try to keep a distance and read our game before attempting anything. That, more than anything else, is perhaps the single biggest achievement for the sport,” says Akhil.

National coach Gurbux Singh Sandhu explains the world’s changing attitude towards Team India.

“At the farewell dinner for boxers at the recent Moscow World Cup, the international boxing federation’s (AIBA) chairman walked up to us and congratulated us. Earlier, no one even glanced in our direction. Everyone was surprised at our performance in the Olympics. No one could believe the progress and development that Indian boxing has made in the last four years. We may not be at par with Cuba yet, but we are getting there.”

At the Moscow World Cup, India were placed third — behind only Cuba and hosts Russia. The most telling fact, perhaps, was that three of the four Indian boxers at the World Cup lost to the eventual champions in closely-fought bouts. The semis were closer than the finals, which were almost one-sided affairs.

India’s new pride of place is reflected in other, less obvious ways as well. “We have been invited by the United States to train with their boxers. At least 8-10 nations want a combined training camp with the Indians. In fact, our trip to Germany (for the Chamiers Cup) before the Olympics was paid for by their boxing federation,” says Sandhu. “It happens in every field, even in boxing, that a dominant player or team gets some benefit from the officials against a rank outsider. Now, every point scored by or against an Indian boxer is considered very seriously, because the judges know that every point matters,” he says.

For Vijender and Akhil, the compliments haven’t stopped coming since the Olympics. “Someone once called me the ‘Indian Muhammad Ali’. That was the biggest high for me,” chuckles Akhil. “Evander Holyfield watching my semi-final bout and saying I had a bright future was the biggest moment for me,” says Vijender.

“But,” Akhil adds, “what gives me most satisfaction is people coming up to me and saying that I have my own style. Jo pehle flaw tha aaj style ho gaya hai (What was a flaw before has now become a style). These are the same people who used to say my stance was wrong, my technique was flawed. I admit I am not the most technically-correct boxer. But I believe that if you work hard, even wrong becomes right.”