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One medal but young Indian team packs a punch at World Championships
Nine boxers making the pre-quarterfinals and five going one round further was impressive for the young team India sent for the event after male boxers had a disappointing outing at the Tokyo Olympics
The performance of India’s male boxers at the Tokyo Olympics was poor. Especially because having qualified in five weight divisions, they had done well in tournaments and exposure trips ahead of the Olympics. But on the biggest stage, no one barring Satish Kumar, who reached the quarter-finals, won a bout.
So the 2021 AIBA World Championships, which ended in Belgrade on Saturday, was important as India fielded a young and inexperienced team. Most of the 13 boxers were at their first world championships. For many, it was their first senior international competition. Former world championship medallist Shiva Thapa (63.5kg) was the most experienced of the lot.
Considering that, nine making the pre-quarterfinals and five going one round further was impressive even though Akash Kumar was the only medallist. Kumar, 21, won a big fight against Rio Olympics silver medallist Finol Rivas Yoel of Venezuela in the quarter-finals but lost in the next round to Makhmud Sabyrkhan of Kazakhstan.
Like Kumar, Nishant Dev (71kg), Rohit Mor (57kg)—the 19-year-old had beaten Commonwealth Games bronze medallist Mohammed Hussamuddin to win the 57kg title in the national championships —Sanjeet (92kg), Sumit (75kg), Narender (+92kg) showed good attitude, temperament, ring craft and the ability to absorb pressure. Going into 2022, the year of Commonwealth and Asian Games, this is good news.
High performance director Santiago Nieva said this team, comprising gold medallists from September’s senior national championships, is going to be the core of Indian boxing. “Considering the lack of preparation, since there was not much time, and the fact we had so many young and inexperienced boxers, it is a good performance,” he said.
“The good thing is that so many of them went deep into the draw. You are never guaranteed a medal but so many boxers reaching pre-quarters and quarterfinals is a positive. Some showed good defensive skills, some used their reach to good advantage, others were aggressive and we had strong boxers like Sumit.
“There is tremendous competition in India… And then we can also have someone who is not in our plans now,” said Nieva.
Kumar’s victory against Yoel was the highlight of the competition for India. He was attacking in the first round and took control in the subsequent rounds. In the 71kg category, Dev was refreshing with fast hands and movements in all four bouts which included a good 3-2 win against Mexico’s Marco Alvarez Verde in the pre-quarterfinals. He gave a tough fight to Vadim Musaev of Russia (4-1) in the quarter-final.
Reigning Asian champion Sanjeet (92kg) has improved with every competition. He beat Russia’s Andrei Tsotskii in the second round. “Beating a Russian boxer in a world championship is not easy,” said Nieva. In the quarter-finals, he lost to Italy’s Aziz Abbes Mouhiidine (92kg) after suffering an injury in his bicep in the first round.
