For long, boxers from India were dismissed simply as street-fighters equipped with haymakers, who led with one's chin and left the ring with a mouse on their face.
With the 2002 gold at the Manchester Commonwealth Games along with a silver and a bronze, India made an attempt to erase the tag of being slow learners of the 'Sweet Science.' But that was not to be. They fell flat on their face again with sub-par performances over the next couple of years including the exit of four boxers in the first round at the 2004 Athens Olympics.
While that was a punch in the gut, the Athens Olympics is still regarded as the rite of passage and 2004 the watershed year in the annals of Indian boxing. The Indians took the beating to heart and learnt a lesson: the usual upper-cuts and hooks gave way to long-range boxing and computer-friendly punches.
"I noticed in Athens that there was no shortage of hard work. We were not fighting clever, that's all," said PK Murlidharan Raja, secretary of IBF, adding, "A judge can get suspended for giving wrong decisions. Therefore, all judges mostly give points on clear straight single punches. Cuban boxers learnt about it early. We were still hooking and swinging wildly to score points."
There was a meeting right after the Athens disaster where 30-odd coaches from across India met and argued on the urgent need to teach their wards the art of straight punches. They even introduced a system at the sub-junior tournaments whereby boxers could be penalized for using the upper-cut and the hook. This helped in fast-tracking the learning process for the junior as well as at the senior level. The result was immediate. Few months later in 2006, pugilists produced their best-ever show by winning the Commonwealth Boxing Championships highlighted by a four-gold haul. They followed it up with five medals at the Melbourne CWG. But the biggest of them all was the corker from Vijender at the Beijing Olympics.
Thus, this time at the Delhi Games, the hosts will field an upbeat and raring-to-go bunch which will target more than five medals from 10 weight categories.
The task, though, is exacting. For one, since most of Indian boxers in the probables list are right-handed as opposed to participants of other countries, who are either ambidextrous or southpaws. When a right-handed boxer charges a leftie, he has to manipulate his technique altogether otherwise he keeps hitting the opposition's guard and scores no points. Secondly, nowadays boxers try to take an early lead and close their guards thereafter. It's essential to know how to pierce it. Indians have trained with these two motives for the last two years. The Games will give them the yield.
Indians boxers have been backed by good preparation, a luxury for most Indian sportspersons. Besides, in combat sports, the horde of madly cheering fans can make champions out of lesser mortals. Vijender, Suronjoy, Nanao & Co. will have plenty of crowd support. They now have to pull the punches.
NUMBER GAME
Core Probables 44
Coaches 07
Foreign Coach 01
Supporting Staff 04
Number of camps/Days 10/552 Days
International Exposure Trips 15
Medals expectations 6 to 7
Foreign stars: Luke Jackson, Alexey Mukhin (both Australia), Khalid Yafai, Iain Weaver and Tom Stalker (all England).
TOI
With the 2002 gold at the Manchester Commonwealth Games along with a silver and a bronze, India made an attempt to erase the tag of being slow learners of the 'Sweet Science.' But that was not to be. They fell flat on their face again with sub-par performances over the next couple of years including the exit of four boxers in the first round at the 2004 Athens Olympics.
While that was a punch in the gut, the Athens Olympics is still regarded as the rite of passage and 2004 the watershed year in the annals of Indian boxing. The Indians took the beating to heart and learnt a lesson: the usual upper-cuts and hooks gave way to long-range boxing and computer-friendly punches.
"I noticed in Athens that there was no shortage of hard work. We were not fighting clever, that's all," said PK Murlidharan Raja, secretary of IBF, adding, "A judge can get suspended for giving wrong decisions. Therefore, all judges mostly give points on clear straight single punches. Cuban boxers learnt about it early. We were still hooking and swinging wildly to score points."
There was a meeting right after the Athens disaster where 30-odd coaches from across India met and argued on the urgent need to teach their wards the art of straight punches. They even introduced a system at the sub-junior tournaments whereby boxers could be penalized for using the upper-cut and the hook. This helped in fast-tracking the learning process for the junior as well as at the senior level. The result was immediate. Few months later in 2006, pugilists produced their best-ever show by winning the Commonwealth Boxing Championships highlighted by a four-gold haul. They followed it up with five medals at the Melbourne CWG. But the biggest of them all was the corker from Vijender at the Beijing Olympics.
Thus, this time at the Delhi Games, the hosts will field an upbeat and raring-to-go bunch which will target more than five medals from 10 weight categories.
The task, though, is exacting. For one, since most of Indian boxers in the probables list are right-handed as opposed to participants of other countries, who are either ambidextrous or southpaws. When a right-handed boxer charges a leftie, he has to manipulate his technique altogether otherwise he keeps hitting the opposition's guard and scores no points. Secondly, nowadays boxers try to take an early lead and close their guards thereafter. It's essential to know how to pierce it. Indians have trained with these two motives for the last two years. The Games will give them the yield.
Indians boxers have been backed by good preparation, a luxury for most Indian sportspersons. Besides, in combat sports, the horde of madly cheering fans can make champions out of lesser mortals. Vijender, Suronjoy, Nanao & Co. will have plenty of crowd support. They now have to pull the punches.
NUMBER GAME
Core Probables 44
Coaches 07
Foreign Coach 01
Supporting Staff 04
Number of camps/Days 10/552 Days
International Exposure Trips 15
Medals expectations 6 to 7
Foreign stars: Luke Jackson, Alexey Mukhin (both Australia), Khalid Yafai, Iain Weaver and Tom Stalker (all England).
TOI
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