The Hindu : Sport : Vijender and Jitender hope to bring cheers

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Vijender and Jitender hope to bring cheers

Special Correspondent

BEIJING: The Indian boxers have a point to prove on Wednesday, when two of them will fight for a medal. The morale in the Indian camp may have been a bit low, following the ouster of the camp’s unofficial spokesman, Akhil Kumar, in the quarterfinals of the bantamweight class, but Vijender Kumar and Jitender Kumar have been training that much harder to keep alive their hopes of an Olympic medal.

The chief coach of the Indian team, Gurbax Singh Sandhu, said that the two boxers would fight it out with their rivals, though they would be up against formidable opponents.

“Jitender is meeting a Russian (Gregory Balakshin), who has beaten him before in the World Championship in Chicago. Jitender’s confidence is high and he is motivated. We have worked out a strategy and we are ready in every way for tomorrow (Wednesday). He can do something,” said Sandhu.

Jitender, recovering from a cut under his chin, will challenge Balakshin, a quarterfinalist in the last three World championships.

Talking about Vijender, the Asian Games bronze medallist and the King’s Cup silver medallist, who had recently shot into prominence following his victory over the ‘best boxer’ of the Athens Games, Bakhtiyar Atrayev of Kazakhstan, the coach said that his ward was facing a boxer (Carlos Gongora), who has been tipped as one of the favourites in the event by the boxing pundits. “If Vijender gets going, it will be tough to stop him. It is going to be interesting,” said Sandhu.

Vijender will face the 19-year-old Ecuadorean, who had won the bronze medal in the Pan-American Games last year.

“Even yesterday (on Monday), Akhil could have won his bout, but for not getting any points initially. Even if he had got one or two punches through the defence, the tempo of the bout would have been totally different,” said Sandhu, still struggling to digest the unexpected defeat of Akhil.

Gill’s gesture

Sandhu also revealed that the Union Sports Minister, Dr. M.S. Gill, had talked to the three boxers at length over the phone on Tuesday, to boost their morale.

“It was very nice of the Minister to talk to them, and encourage them to fight their best, not worrying about the results. He talked to Akhil also,” said Sandhu.

After Gurcharan Singh had reached the quarterfinals in Sydney in 2000 and missed a medal narrowly, there has been a noticeable improvement in Indian boxing. The boost that the sport has received through Government and private support, has led to the entry of three of the five qualified boxers into the quarterfinals of the Games. One of the Bhiwani trio may have bowed out, but the other two are keen to reach the semifinals that will guarantee a medal.

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