"We have done well in claiming six medals this time in London. We saw the tri-colour being unfurled on these occasions. But nothing beats the joy of hearing one's national anthem being played out at the Olympic Games," said Narsi, executive board member of the International boxing federation AIBA, today.
Narsi spoke at the function organized by the Sports Journalists Association of Mumbai here to hear the personal experiences of seven city scribes, who had reported on the London Games for their respective organisations.
Having officiated in eight Olympic Games - first as referee and then referee-judge and now as AIBA executive member - Narsi felt Indian boxing has been on the up since Dingko Singh won gold at the 1998 Asian Games in Bangkok.
"That was the turning point in Indian boxing when Dingko, who was not even in the original contingent but was included thanks to you media people, won the gold medal in 1998 Asian Games at Bangkok.
"This was followed by Gurcharan Singh's narrow miss (to win a medal) at the Sydney Olympics (in 2000) when he needed just one or 2 good blows to land (in the quarter finals) with 10 seconds left to get into the medal bracket," said Narsi.
"We did not win anything in Athens (2004), but things changed for the better at Beijing (2008) with Vijender (winning a bronze medal). This time, (MC) Mary Kom won a bronze and three others reached the quarter finals," he noted. (More)
