From cricket nation to boxing nation

Three Indian boxers in the quarterfinals at the Beijing Olympics! All three are from the famous SAI boxing hostel at Bhiwani. Well, the inclusion of ‘famous’ in the line above is the famous Indian habit of ornamenting an article with adjectives. Most people in India do not know where Bhiwani is, let alone knowing about its relationship with boxing.

Bhiwani is a district in Haryana, also known as ‘Chota Kashi’ for its temples. A district where worshipping and boxing exist side-by-side! Akhil Kumar, Jitender Kumar and Vijender Kumar, the three pugilists who have made it to the last eight in their respective categories in Beijing, have honed their skills here. While the rest of the country was busy playing cricket, this district quietly prepared its boxers. And boy, weren’t they prepared!

Akhil’s bout against the Russian world champion Sergey Vodopyanov was undoubtedly one of the greatest sporting achievements by an Indian. Trailing 2-6 at one point, Akhil fought hard to level scores and since he came from behind to lock horns with the Russian on points, the jury decided the bout in his favour. Buoyed by Akhil’s never-say-die attitude, Jitender and Vijender practically demolished their opponents in the pre-quarters.

I spoke to Vijender and Jitender in New Delhi at the send-off ceremony organized by the official sponsors for the Indian contingent. While it’s common knowledge that boxers are a bit ‘different’ than the rest of the lot, I was kind of taken aback to see the attitude of the Indian boxers. It didn’t make much sense to me till they booked those quarterfinal berths. They seemed unfazed by the lack of attention, awareness and the stupid, meaningless questions thrown at them by the self-proclaimed sports journalists. Jitender kept saying, “Ja rahe hai, medal lane ki koshish to karenge hi.” No one took him seriously. Jitender doesn’t really look the kind who inspires belief.

The shooters, who usually have the privileges of a better educational and financial background, were smarter when it came to handling the media. The suave Manavjit Sandhu or the pretty Avneet Kaur Sidhu looked more in control of things. In any case, the most was expected from the shooters and even though it was known that India did have strong boxing and archery contingents, the spotlight was always on the shooters. It could now be said that in spite of Abhinav Bindra’s historic gold medal, the shooters and archers have disappointed but the boxers haven’t.

India finally made its presence felt at the Olympics! And Bhiwani could rightfully claim its share of credit now. According to former 100m world champion Linford Christie, Olympics are not the place for team events. Rather, this is the stage where individual performers should thrive to excel. Abhinav Bindra’s gold medal would have been looked upon as a freak accident somewhere down the line had the boxers not consolidated India’s position at the Beijing Games.

A gold medal in shooting, quarterfinal exits in tennis and badminton, swimmers and rowers putting their best feet forward – the performances augur well for the future of Indian sports. And it’s doubly satisfying to see boxing of all the sports leading the Indian performance in Beijing from the front. It symbolises the fight.

Let’s be honest, I’m sick and tired of cricket, cricketers, cricket experts, cricket administrators, cricket analyses, cricket theme restaurants, cricket songs, cricket fanaticisms, cricket patriotisms and those endless drunken cricket conversations. I would be happy to see all of those replaced with boxing. I pray (though I’m not sure to whom) that Akhil Kumar remains a bigger name in India than Ashish Nehra or Vijay Dahiya. I have my loyalties towards him. We both belong to the same weight category. Well, unlike him, I stay far away from Bhiwani and its boxing rings.