Pugilists 'disappointed'
in King's Cup
Sandy Brown in Bangkok
"The performance of the ten-member Indian boxing team which participated in the 24th King's Cup amateur boxing championships was a disappointing,'' according to team manager Khobi Salam, who also is the vice-president of the Indian Amateur Boxing Federation.
Speaking on the eve of the team's departure from Bangkok, in the lobby of the Sol Twin hotel where the participating teams were hosted, Salam said apart from the three World Cuppers -- Suresh Singh (flyweight), Ramanand (featherweight)
and Ali Qamar (Light-flyweight), and Som Bahadur Pun and Dilbagh Singh, who both went down fighting, the showing of the others including Hardeep Singh, brother of Olympian Gurcharan Singh, was disappointing.
''Qamar Ali, Ramanand and Suresh were a little too
exhausted as they had just returned for the World Cup
boxing championships, where they performed exceptionally well. They only had a week's rest before
they had to pack their bags and leave for Bangkok
to participate in the King's Cup,'' said Salam, who
was also critical about the team selection.
Salam, who heads a clutch of associations in Manipur including the Manipur Boxing
Association and Manipur Olympic Association, was all
praise for the performance of Suresh and Qamar Ali, who he felt were robbed of berths in the semi-finals.
''Purely going by merit, these two boxers could have
probably made it to the final in their respective
categories had the judging been unbiased; their
opponents were Thai boxers," said Salam.
Incidentaly, Thailand fielded four teams, including
one from the army, and had boxers fighting each other
in four categories in the final, which assured them of
four sure gold and silver medals.
Salam said Som Bahadur Pun, who unfortunately came up against a
Thai boxer in the quarter-finals, was another boxer who got a raw deal.
''Pun came up with a courageous performance in the third and fourth rounds
after playing the waiting game in the first two, where
he did manage to score quite a few points with lethal
left hooks and right crosses to the Thai's head that
rocked him considerably and forced him to take cover.
''In the final two rounds, Pun knew he had to go in for
the kill if he had to beat the Thai and the system.
And he did exactly that. Sadly, the judges thought
otherwise and the bout ended in disappointment for the
youngster,'' he added.
In the end, the Indian team managed only a couple of bronze medals through Harpal Singh (super-heavy) and Dilbagh Singh (welter).
"This team was not a impressive as those that participated in past King's Cups," remarked a senior Thai boxing official, adding, ''I guess this is not their full national team."
The other boxer to come in for a lot of praise, not
for his skills but pure courage, was Dilbagh Singh, who
showed that skill alone is not the criteria to make the
team but guts as well.
Salam informed that though the hosts organised the
tournament well and provided the visiting teams good hospitality, the boys were not happy with the
food as the menu was only Chinese. ''They
missed home food and that made some difference to
their performance,'' he concluded.
Related reports:
Indian challenge in King's Cup boxing ends
Indian pugilists get a beating
Dilbagh Singh packs a punch
Matvel Korobov emerges best
