Akhil Kumar narrowly missed out on a medal in Beijing. He wants to make amends at the Commonwealth Games
It’s 6 30 am and Akhil Kumar is packing his first punches of the day at the National Institute of Sports, Patiala, along with 40 fellow boxers. There’ll be a break at 9 am, when Kumar will closely watch a video of his morning training session, looking for chinks and ways to correct his technique. “These days, we fight fewer rounds, but the training is more focused,” says Kumar, who is known for his open guarded boxing style. Next month’s Commonwealth Championship in Delhi will be the 29-year-old boxer’s next big chance to win a medal after narrowly missing out on one at the Beijing Olympics in August 2008. Kumar was the toast of India when he defeated world champion Sergey Vodopyanov of Russia in the pre-quarterfinals of the men’s 54 kg category, but then went on to lose his very next match.
At the moment, Kumar is focusing his energies on the Championship, which will be a test for the all-important Commonwealth Games later this year. The newly reopened boxing facility at the Talkatora Stadium, will host boxers from across the world for this event. To prepare for the Championship, Kumar is working to knock off the few kilos he put on for a recent training camp in South Africa.
Training aside, the Faizabad-born sportsman who claims to be inspired by Muhammad Ali, says with a laugh that he could use a few prayers too. “When I lost in the Olympics, I stopped praying. But now my faith has returned. Do you know why? Because despite all the injuries on both my wrists in the last few months, I have been able to train well. And I kept wondering, where is the energy coming from? It’s been a year-and-a-half since the Olympics and people still recognise me on the street. It’s a great feeling and that’s how I have realised that there must be someone giving me strength,” says Kumar.
Kumar’s boxing dreams began 16 years go. As a young boy, like most others his age, Kumar had played gulley cricket. “My older brother pushed me take up a sport that I could pursue seriously. I started training when I was 13 years old.” Soon the boxing lessons turned serious and Kumar had to shrug off his parents demands that he study medicine. “By the end of every practice session, I would be seeing double, and I would feel sleepy. How could I study in such a situation? Somehow, I copied and passed my exams,” he laughs now.
Boxing has remained, perhaps, the only constant in Kumar’s life, with the family moving home every few years — from Faizabad to Bhiwani, Karnal, Rohtak and Gurgaon — owing to his father’s job as jail warden.
“The first time I stepped into a boxing ring in 1994 at a stadium near Gurgaon, I had no idea I would come this far. But it’s really through boxing that I have discovered myself. The pain, too, is intoxicating; if suddenly there isn’t any pain, you feel something is missing.” Kumar laughs at the irony. “I never found boxing too hard, for isn’t boxing all about defending yourself?”
Though Kumar got the Arjuna award in 2005, it was 2008, the year of the Olympics, that was the turning point. It not only brought boxing unprecedented popularity in India, but it also gave Kumar, and his fellow boxers, Vijendar Singh and Jitendar Kumar, a new life and purpose, inspiring many others to take up the sport. “Nobody respected us before Beijing. But now we can say we are proud to be boxers,” smiles Kumar.
In between punches, Kumar quietly hums a ghazal or two, or the lastest from Bollywood — he says he’s a complete music buff. “When I feel exhausted, I listen to romantic songs,” he says. Shyly, he confides that he plans to tie the knot after the Commonwealth Games. “I’ll have many more responsibilties then, but I’ll hold on to my dreams,” he vows. “If it were all in my hands, I would make sure we have more boxers than cricketers in India.”
If Kumar does win a medal in Delhi, that wish may just come true.
