The Hindu : Sport : Vijender begins well

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Sunday, Aug 10, 2008
ePaper | Mobile/PDA Version

Sport

Sport

Vijender begins well

Special Correspondent

Dinesh Kumar outclassed by Benchabla

BEIJING: Vijender Kumar gave a rousing start to the Indian boxing challenge in the Olympic Games at the Worker’s Gymnasium here with a competent fare, but the joy in the camp evaporated quickly as Dinesh Kumar was outclassed a few minutes later on a day of mixed fortunes here on Saturday.

Asian Games bronze medallist, Vijender, revelled in the fine atmosphere and revealed his understanding of the nuances of quality boxing, as he tackled G. J. Jack Badou of Gambia with dexterity and force, in recording a 13-2 triumph.

The 22-year-old Vijender, competing in the middleweight class, gauged the opponent in the first round, when he registered only one point on the computer.

Clear strategy

Backed by the rich experience of coaches Gurbax Singh Sandhu and Cuban B.I. Fernandez, the strapping young man returned with a clear strategy in the second round. He combined the swirling left-hooks with sharp straight punches to overwhelm his defensive opponent in racing up a 6-1 lead.

“He was clever, and very good today,” conceded Badou later.

Once he gained the upperhand, Vijender paced the bout nicely in the third and fourth rounds, showing just about sufficient intensity to score the points that ensured a pre-quarterfinal bout against Angkhan Chomphuphuang of Thailand.

The Thai, the reigning King’s Cup champion and a silver medallist in the last Asian Games in Doha, scored a 9-3 victory over Deokjin Cho of Korea.

Having beaten the ‘best boxer’ of the Athens Games, Bakhtiar Atrayev of Kazakhstan recently, the athletic Vijender is obviously brimming with confidence, but he has a fight on hand against the Thai, that is scheduled for August 16.

Cautious

“It will be a tough bout. I am trying to be on the podium, and hope to seek a revenge for the loss that I had against him the last time,” said a cautious Vijender.

In contrast, Dinesh Kumar had no clue against Abdelhafid Benchabla of Algeria in the light heavyweight category as he forced the referee to stop the contest in the third round by getting drowned under the punches.

Dinesh made the mistake of going about his task blindly and gave too much of an opening for his opponent to shower punches.

The Algerian, a runner-up in the all-African championship last year, ran up a 23-3 lead with 19 seconds left on the clock in the third round, in outclassing the Indian who had won the bronze medal in the King’s Cup.

The three other Indian boxers, Akhil Kumar, A. L. Lakra and Jitender Kumar are scheduled to have their bouts later.

Olympics 2008-Day One

Printer friendly page
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

Sport