The Hindu : Sport / Boxing : Coach satisfied with junior team’s showing

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Tuesday, Jun 02, 2009
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Coach satisfied with junior team’s showing

Sports Reporter

India finished seventh with 14 points
Russia, with five gold and four silver, was the most successful country

NEW DELHI: Although the Indian team returned from the AIBA World junior boxing championships in Yerevan (Armenia) without any gold medal, coach M.S. Dhaka is satisfied with the performance of the youngsters.

The Indian side got one silver and three bronze medals — the highest number of medals in the competition for the country so far — against its achievement of two gold and a silver in 2007.

But, Dhaka is not disturbed by the fact.

“There is no specific reason as to why we did not get any gold medal. But the overall performance of our boys was good,” Dhaka told The Hindu after the junior team’s arrival here on Monday.

Sandeep, who lost to Koryun Soghomonyan of Armenia in the 46kg title clash, was the lone Indian to win a silver medal.

Namit Bahadur (50kg), Shiva Thapa (52kg) and Vikas Khatri (54kg) bagged a bronze each after losing in the semifinals.

India finished seventh in the tournament with 14 points. Russia, with five gold and four silver medals, was the most successful country in the championships.

Good exposure

Dhaka observed that the Indian boxers were on par with pugilists from top boxing nations and the exposure to such a high-intensity event would help them in future.

“The competition level was very high in the World Championships. However, our boxers showed that they can compete with anybody. For instance, take the cases of Nanao Singh and Chhote Lal, who won gold and silver respectively in a senior event in Kazakhstan recently.

“Like them, these boys are also very talented and would do well when they graduate to the senior level,” Dhaka said.

India had fielded eight boxers for the junior event and six of them reached the quarterfinals stage or even further.

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