New Delhi, December 17: Jinxes were shattered and new highs attained as Indian boxing continued its post-Olympic upward march and Vijender Singh was the undisputed star of the show yet again with his ground-breaking achievements in a mega-successful year.
Whether it was winning India’s maiden World Championship medal in Milan or becoming the world’s number one middle weight boxer, the 24-year-old Olympic bronze medallist remained the brightest star on the Indian boxing horizon for the second year in a row.
In between punching his way into history books, Vijender, along with his female counterpart M C Mary Kom, also walked away with the country’s highest sporting honour — the Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna award, which was also a first for Indian boxing.
A multi-million dollar deal with leading sports management firm Percept only added to his growing aura as one of India’s biggest sporting stars outside cricket.
But while Vijender settled for bronze in every tournament he competed in, a 22-year-old from a small town in Manipur, Suranjoy Singh, quite literally became Indian boxing’s golden boy this year.
The shy fly weight boxer, who wanted to be a footballer at the start of his career before being persuaded to don the gloves by his elder brother, clinched three gold medals at prestigious international events.
Still basking in the glory of a phenomenal 2008, the medal rush for Indian boxing started quite early this year with the European Grand Prix in May in Czech Republic. For the first time in 40 years of the event, an Indian boxer, Suranjoy, claimed a gold medal.
Vijender, competing in his first tournament after the Olympics, had to be content with a bronze along with two others.
The Asian Championships, a tournament in which India had not won a gold for the past 15 years, was next up on the calendar in the Chinese city of Zhuhai in June. Suranjoy stole the thunder from Vijender there too and notched up the country’s lone gold.
Vijender once again settled for a bronze and India ended the campaign with a gold, two silver and four bronze medals, which was a 27-year best by the nation’s boxers.
Awards Galore
A month after that, it was boxing’s moment of glory at the National Sports Awards where Mary Kom, a living legend in women’s boxing with four world titles to her credit in the 46kg category, and Vijender were both honoured with the Khel Ratna.
No boxer had ever been bestowed with the prestigious award before, but Vijender and Mary Kom’s unprecedented success in the international arena was hard to ignore for the jury, which decided to give the honour individually to the duo along with wrestling star Sushil Kumar.
On the evening he collected the trophy, Vijender put his celebrations on hold as he had to leave for the World Championships in Milan. Once there, he celebrated in the best way possible, scripting another piece of history by clinching his third consecutive bronze medal of the year.
But this was not just any other bronze, it was India’s maiden medal at the biggest boxing event after the Olympics. En route to his semifinal appearance, the strapping six-footer trounced a world champion to make it an event to remember for a long time to come.
“Another dream year for me and hope I can continue this way next year too. Just need to better the colour of medals that I win,” said the Bhiwani-boxer, looking back at the year gone by.
A wrist injury forced Vijender out of the season-ending President’s Cup but Suranjoy ensured that Indian sports lovers had reason to celebrate some more before bidding adieu to 2009 as he clinched the gold medal before being adjudged the Best Boxer of the tournament.
On the downside, Akhil Kumar and Jitender Kumar, who made quite an impression at the Olympics last year by reaching the quarterfinals beating high-rated opponents, couldn’t build on the success this season.
Both of them jumped a division in an injury-marred year. While Akhil shifted to feather weight (57kg), Jitender jumped to bantam (54kg). And though Jitender has a bronze at the Asian Championships to show for, it was largely a disappointing year for the duo as they made early exits from the World Championships before being laid low by injuries.
Outside the ring, the build-up continued for the much-anticipated World Series of Boxing next year. India became one of the four franchisees from Asia with leading electronics goods manufacturers Videocon putting in the money to buy the rights.
Corporate giant Sahara stepped in to sponsor the boxers, offering them the security of an annual retainership besides supporting the annual national championships, which never had a backer in the past.
With excellent results in the ring and some exciting developments off it, Indian boxing remained on the upswing, promising an even better 2010 when the country hosts the Commonwealth Games in October.
–Agencies