Unfit Dingko should have been dropped — Coach

A week ago, the boxer from Manipur who had became a National hero after he won the Asian Games gold in 1998 at Bangkok, had also hinted at the injury but insisted that he would recover in time for the Games. The Indian Amateur Boxing Federation (IABF) had been silent on the issue.

“He tried to go all out during practice on the last day of training (August 31) but we had to stop him to avoid further injuries,” the coach said.

Another bright prospect for Sydney, middleweight boxer Jitender Kumar, is also believed to be nursing an injury to his right wrist.

The injuries to Dingko and Jitender have raised questions about the Federation’s decision to send the team to Cuba for training when they were aware about the “niggling” injuries.

“By dropping Dingko from the team, even though he is unfit, would have created an unnecessary controversy,” said Sandhu, hinting at the pressure on the coaches.

Dingko stayed away from international competition for months and came back with a bang during the SAF Games in October, 1999.

However, the injury flared up again and Dingko struggled to qualify for the Olympics.

“Besides,” Sandhu added, “We don’t have bench strength to replace Dingko.” Sandhu feels that Dingko will struggle to get past the first round at Sydney, “Anyway, it’s a Catch-22 situation — either he goes and loses in the first round or we drop him. Therefore, we decided to send him to avoid an uproar,” he said.

“The last four months have been bad for our boxers. They have struggled with injuries, there were cases of jaundice … It has really been a nightmare.”

Sandhu says that the expectations from the boxers are unrealistic. “There is so much hype,” Sandhu complained. “It’s rarely been that Indian boxers have managed to get past the first bout. To think about winning a medal is a far-fetched dream.”

Sandhu pointed out that other countries had made much more progress than India. “We have a talented team but our main achievement in recent years has been to prove to the World that Indians can also box.”

“We can’t be looking at a medal in Sydney,” Sandhu pleaded. “At the most, if any of our boxer reaches the quarter-finals, it will be deemed a great success.”