Ringside revival

At the Beijing Olympics,Indias boxers announced themselves not just as individuals with promise but also as the flag-bearers for a quiet revival. Akhil Kumar and Jitender Kumar got within a shot at a medal,and Vijender Singh grabbed bronze. The boys from Bhiwani enjoyed their time in the limelight,providing the uninformed spectator a crash course in the finer points of scoring play longarm,so that the judges cannot but see and give you a point and weight control perhaps thats why they were so sleepless before bouts. In the year after,good tidings have continued and this month Suranjoy Singh confirmed the promise of his mates by winning gold at the Asian Championships.

Bhiwani,given that four out of the five boxers in the Beijing team were from in and around the town,has been termed Little Cuba. Cubas dominance of the sport,however,has diminished somewhat,and coaches provide an intriguing glimpse into the geopolitics of boxing. Dingko Singh once a gold medalist at the Asian Games and coach to Suranjoy among others points out that the break-up of the Soviet Union lightened Indias medal haul at Asian tournaments,by releasing into the fray boxers from the USSRs former Central Asian republics. Yet,that change leveled the field and acquainted Indian boxers to more world-class competition even at the Asian level.

Another change over the years,as coach Gurbax Singh Sandhu told The Sunday Express,is that the Indian challenge is now being mounted less in the heavy categories,and more in the light and middle-weight segments. These categories,he says,require more internalisation of technical skills and mental agility. Clearly,along with its medals,boxing is continuing to reveal its nuances.