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New Delhi: Any dialogue on India’s boxing squad to the Tokyo Olympics is unlikely to characteristic Ashish Kumar. That the primary boxer from Himachal Pradesh to qualify for the Video games is in middleweight (75kg)—the division produced India’s solely male medallist, 2008 bronze winner Vijender Singh—might not make a distinction.
Kumar neither carries large expectations like debutant and world No.1 Amit Panghal, nor does he have the expertise and standing of Vikas Krishan, heading to his third Video games.
Nonetheless, if the Olympics will not be about chasing one’s dream, what’s?
“I’ve set a Tokyo Olympics medal as my cellular wallpaper. I fall asleep taking a look at it, get up and see it first. Why ought to I hold any boxer’s picture and get impressed? I’m myself able to bringing house a medal,” Kumar says.
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He’s at present in Italy with the opposite Olympics-bound boxers for a three-week coaching camp. They’ll get to spar with native boxers or these from different international locations who’ve additionally headed for Tokyo. It’s a closing rehearsal for the Indian males who’ve returned empty-handed from the final two (2012 and 2016) Olympics.
SEEKING VIJENDER
Kumar likes to chart his personal path, although Vijender is a yardstick.
“Vijender bhai was a whole boxer,” he says. “He relied so much on counter-punching and will play from lengthy vary. I wished to be like Vijender. I even went to Bhiwani to study him. However I’ve by no means met him. I’m not so good like him. I’m, you possibly can say, a mixture of many types—this, that, every little thing.
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“I’ve relied totally on assault. Typically going all out has landed me in hassle. On the World Sequence of Boxing two years again, I received badly overwhelmed once I went all out. These are the issues I’m finding out. Additionally, boxing has modified from the time Vijender bhai gained the medal. It’s important to land extra punches now to impress the judges. Earlier it was extra about getting factors. There could be instances when a boxer would land punch after which hold evading/working away for the remainder of the spherical. Now, such ways will earn detrimental factors.”
Kumar, 26, overtly acknowledges his weak areas all through the dialog. There are causes. In contrast to his fellow nationwide campers who rode constant success, Kumar’s profession is about surmounting a string of failures.
For one, he doesn’t come from India’s boxing strongholds like Haryana or Manipur. He took up the game solely as a result of his cousins and late father Bhagat Ram inspired him. And he was one match away from giving it up after near a decade of futile campaigns in home tournaments.
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“From 2007 to 2015 my efficiency was zero. I gave my all and but all the time returned empty-handed. I misplaced within the 2015 nationals and determined to give up the game. I felt I wasn’t adequate. I started trying to find a job. A month later, the 2015 Nationwide Video games in Kerala was imagined to my final match. I went there for enjoyable.
“There I beat the nationwide champion and went on to win gold. That was the turnaround, however the highway was by no means clean. Then began a string of losses in worldwide occasions until the 2019 Asian championships the place I gained silver, adopted by a medal on the Thailand Open,” he stated.
NO GLASS CHIN
“I’m not bothered about failures any extra. It doesn’t damage. I understand how to select myself up after a loss. I’ve had so many,” Kumar says.
No marvel he was up and working shortly after a bout of Covid. He examined constructive earlier than his closing match on the Boxam Worldwide in Castellon, Spain in March.
“My restoration didn’t take lengthy. I’m now totally match and prepared. Earlier than going to Italy, we have been having intense coaching periods at NIS, Patiala. We’re primarily specializing in mixture punching and velocity. At NIS, it was principally a combined schedule—energy coaching, working, and so forth., within the morning and circuit coaching (ring work to enhance energy, health and mobility), sparring and rehab.
They then examine the ways of their opponents.
“We’re proven their video clips. We’re proven the place they’re proper and we’re improper. There are high boxers like Gleb Bakshi (Russia’s 2019 world champion), Eumir Marshal (The Philippines), Tursynbay Kulakhmet (Kazakhstan) in my weight class. I’ve fought all of them. I hope I can beat them on the Olympics.”
That might be some feat by Kumar.
“After the 2020 Asia & Oceania Boxing Olympic Qualification Match in Amman, there was lockdown. I’m from Sundar Nagar, Mandi. Amenities there will not be nice. It was solely when a neighborhood sports activities retailer gifted me a kitbag, that I might resume correct observe. So, you possibly can perceive. Coming from there, I’m carrying numerous hope. I goal to be the primary boxer from my state to win an Olympics medal.”
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