Million Dollar Babies

Indian boxers are often in the news for all the wrong reasons but recent performances give hope that this sport is finally doing well.

The last time you took notice of an Indian boxer would have been when a report about one of them absconding after a tournament abroad made the headlines. Boxing, somehow, never gets enough credit for being one sport where Indians have managed to garner medals.

Three boxers, Vijender Singh, Jitendra Kumar and Narijit Singh won silver medals, while another boxer Dinesh Kumar, won a bronze medal at the King's Cup in Bangkok recently. The medal haul was one of the biggest ever for Indian boxers and is a sure sign of how things have slowly, but steadily, improved for Indian pugilists.

This revival is a result of a combination of many factors after things had hit an all-time low a few years ago. There was a doping scandal after the 2002 Asian Games; a few boxers absconded after participating in international tournaments; there were changes in the bodies that run the sport; lack of money "" all sorts of problems plagued boxing. In short, not many things were going right for the sport.

As things stand today, the situation has improved considerably. For starters, money has started to pour in to the game. Mittal Champions Trust has been at the forefront of developing boxing in India.

"Boxing is one sport where we have a lot of pedigree and there is potential which needs to be tapped," says Manisha Malhotra, administrator, Mittal Champions Trust.

Boxers in India have always shown potential but have lacked proper training and guidance. The trust takes care of upcoming boxers' training needs and offers them opportunities to go abroad and take part in various tournaments. Boxers who went to Bangkok for the King's Cup recently were sponsored by the trust.

Boxing is one sport where India has had a good medal winning record at the Asian Games. Be it Gursharan Singh who won at Busan in 2002, or Vijender Kumar who did it in 2006 at Doha, or Dingko Singh, they have been around for a while now, but have lacked a killer's punch. While the pugilists have always had a decent performance in the past, their lack of consistency can be attributed to inferior training practices.

The good news is that the training methods now used by the Indian Amateur Boxing Federation (IABF) have changed and more dedicated coaches have swung into action. Specialist coaches have been assigned to give training in various areas such as body movements and fitness.

Another area that needed to be addressed was the technique. Our pugilists have been technically inferior to those of other Asian countries such as Thailand, Kazakhstan or Turkey. With new training methods, the Indian Amateur Boxing Federation is hoping that things will soon change for the better.

It is not only men who are making a name for themselves in this sport, women too are doing well. Two-time world champion M C Marykom from Manipur has been an inspirational figure for women. She won four medals at the World Women's Boxing Championship in November 2006 and is hoping to continue her good performance.

Marykom has done the country proud by performing exceptionally well at several international tournaments in the past few years. Apart from that, two other promising women pugilists who won medals at the World Boxing Championship are K C Lekha and R L Jenny.

Says an official from the IABF, "We have seen a lot of improvements recently and we hope that the good work is continued by our boxers." It's now down to the boxers who have been putting a lot of hard work in training and keeping fit, the official adds.

Though things are looking up, there are a few chinks in the boxing armour. Lack of sponsors is one area where this sport suffers. Corporate support is almost as good as nought.

Another big problem is knowledge about the banned substances which the boxers shouldn't be taking. Most of them go by medicines prescribed by Sports Authority of India doctors. And though recent boxing results might be a flash in the pan, they at least give hope to those who aspire to take up this sport seriously.