Even as the Indian boxers returned home on Monday with four gold, one silver and two bronze medals and the team championship from the Doha international boxing tournament, National chief coach G.S. Sandhu said his wards must work harder in order to achieve Olympic qualification berths.
The World boxing championship in Doha in October will serve as the first Olympic qualifying event and Sandhu said the Indian pugilists needed to sharpen their skills in the remaining months to succeed on their next trip to the Qatar capital.
India had fielded most of its top boxers, who were expected to make it to the World championship, at the same venue. L. Devendro Singh (49kg), Shiva Thapa (56kg), Manish Kaushik (60kg) and Manoj Kumar (64kg) bagged gold medals, while Gaurav Bidhuri (52kg) settled for silver. Mandeep Jangra (69kg) and Vikas Krishan (75kg) managed bronze medals.
Good motivationSandhu said it was a good motivation for the boxers. “It was a middle-level event with 12 countries in fray. Most of our boxers had not competed after the Asian Games in October last year. It was a fine exposure trip as they got some good bouts. It was a wake-up call as well because it highlighted the areas of improvement,” said Sandhu.
“The opponents included boxers from Morocco, Egypt, Philippines, Australia etc. Now we need some exposure against top countries, such as those from the European countries and ex-Soviet nations, in order to prepare for the bigger battle.”
Sandhu said since it was difficult to get invitational tournaments and combined training camps against top nations, Indian boxers might utilise the available opportunities to prepare for the Worlds.
“Several countries are interested in having combined training with us. Australia has already sent its proposal to train here and some other countries have expressed interest.
“We have to make the best utilisation of the time as it is much more difficult to qualify for the Olympics now. Last time, anyone who reached the quarterfinals of the World championship earned a berth in the Olympics.
This time majority of berths are being booked through World Series of Boxing (WSB) and AIBA Pro Boxing (APB). It is two-third less than what was available last time and a lot has to be done to win a place in the Rio Games.”
Junior women excelThe female boxers also reached home after landing three gold (Savita-50kg, Mandeep Sandhu-52kg, Sakshi-54kg) and two silver medals (Soniya-48kg, Gonella Niharika-70kg) and securing the second spot in team championship in the World junior women's championship in Chinese Taipei.
However, the youth girls got just one bronze medal with Jamuna Boro (57kg) managing a podium finish.
Coach I. Venkateshwara Rao said this was a good performance considering the rise in the level of competition. “Physically our boxers might be a little weaker, but they made up for it with good grip over technical and tactical aspects apart from their sound endurance level,” he said.
