Born in Bhiwani, the cradle of boxers, it was natural for young Vijender to embrace the sport his brother Manoj, himself a national champion, pursued. He was hardly in his teens when he donned Manoj’s sizeable gloves. Spotting his extraordinary talent, Sports Authority of India coach Jagdish Singh was quick to induct him into the Bhiwani Boxing Club. The stint gave him exposure in the national circuit and kindled his fire to bestride the hurdles and reign atop. And as he grew up, his dreams grew bigger.Determined to succeed as he was, it didn’t take Vijender long to master the tricks of the pugilists’ trade. He was only 15 when he buckled twin national titles, both junior and senior. Further noteworthy performances earned him a berth in the 2004 Athens Olympics, a dream that was probably realised too early.

Blame it on big-stage blues or complacency, but Vijender succumbed to lesser-known Turk Mustafa Karagollu in the first round of the men’s light-welter category. Disappointed he was, but not disheartened. Taking the setback in its stride, Vijender resumed practice. What followed were workouts, workouts and more workouts, sans funds, sponsors or recognition. But he didn’t spare any chance to compete in tournaments, even local tournaments. Meanwhile, he switched to the middleweight category and found the arena amiable to his stature.It was only a matter of time before Vijender’s resolve and fortitude bore dividends. He clinched the bronze at the Doha Asiad 2006 and silver at the Melbourne Commonwealth Games. Though he was affected by a back injury early this year, he recovered quickly enough to strike gold in the Olympic qualifier in Kazakhstan. To further galvanise his Olympic medal hopes, the Arjuna awardee drubbed reigning Olympic gold-medallist Bakhtiyar Artayev of Kazakhstan 12-7 in the quarterfinal of the inaugural AIBA President’s Cup in Sinjhuang City. The win was sweeter as the Kazak had edged him out in the semifinal of the Asian Games. However, Vijender yielded to Thailand’s Angkhan Chomphuphu in a controversial semifinal bout.The stint with German boxers, followed by an international event, should see the five-member Indian squad in good shape. National coach Gurbax Singh Sandhu expects his boys to peak by the Olympics. And certainly, Vijender will be his trump card.

"Vijender (75kg) and Akhil Kumar (54kg) are taking part in their second Olympics and I have high hopes of a medal from them because of their recent excellent record in international competitions," the Joint Secretary of the Indian Amateur Boxing Federation said at a symposium organised by the Sports Journalists Federation of India here. Kowli, also Secretary of the Maharashtra boxing body, said while India would be represented by five pugilists in the August 8-24 Games, medal hopes were pinned more on this duo."Akhil Kumar has been a very consistent performer after his gold medal win in the Glasgow Commonwealth Championship in 2005 and the 2006 Commonwealth Games in Melbourne though CWG is only 30 per cent of Olympics (competition-wise). He was also declared the best boxer in the Asian qualifiers at Bangkok. I am sure he will bring good news," he said."Vijender is neat and clean in his technique and has beaten Athens Games medalist and Doha Asian Games winner Bakhtiyar Artayev of Uzbekistan on points in Taipei which is some achievement. I expect a lot from him too," Kowli said.

The other Indian boxers who would be seen at Beijing are Akhilesh Kumar Lakra (57kg), Jitender Kumar (51kg) and Dinesh Kumar (81kg).While the boxing official was upbeat, former sprint queen Nachappa held out little hopes of a medal in athletics unless ace long jumper Anju George betters her personal best of 6.85m."I wish I could say better things, but from previous experiences I don't hold any hopes of a medal in athletics unless Anju Bobby George betters her Athens best of 6.85m. It's sad (state of affairs) but true," Ashwini, the one-time national 100m women's champion, said.Ashwini recalled her bitter Olympic Games experience of 1988 when other teams were striving to win a medal the Indian contingent was trying to figure out their women's relay teams through repeated trials."I hope things turn out better now than in 1988 when repeated trials were conducted to suit one particular athlete," she said, without mentioning India's best-known female athlete P T Usha, carrying an injury then, by name."Though I don't expect any medals, it will be great if the athletes can try and better their personal bests."Apart from Anju, a few others like triple jumper Renjith Maheswari have qualified for the Games and Ashwini had another dig at the Athletics Federation of India's perceived favouritism towards women relay athletes by saying, "I would be surprised if the 4x400 m relay team does not go".Ace cueist Geet Sethi, who has formed the "Quest for Olympic Gold," venture with badminton great Prakash Padukone slammed the officials of the various Indian sports federations for treating sports persons like dirt.

"I had gone to watch the 2000 Sydney Games when I had floated a sports website and found the behaviour of the officials pompous at a show-boat party whereas the athletes wore a dejected and depressed look. This has to change," he emphasised."I saw the federations' officials strutting around with flamboyance and arrogance while the athletes were cowering before them. This, I recall, was after (Karnam) Malleswari had won her bronze (in weightlifting)", the former world professional billiards champion said.

"We need to throw out this defeatist attitude of the athletes. Those who have qualified for the Games need our full support now."Everyone I have met in India, from businessmen to doctors and other professionals want our athletes to win medals at the Olympics. They are willing to commit themselves financially. It needs only one gold medal to open up the floodgates (of gold medals)," he said optimistically.Shuttler Uday Pawar was not too happy with the way the Badminton Association of India has disallowed top shuttlers from going overseas to train and play matches."We can't replicate the Chinese model and flog the players to exhaustion by asking them to train endlessly. We have a limited pool and if we continue doing this most of them would be finished", the former international and doubles expert said."We should see the examples of (tennis players) Leander Paes, Mahesh Bhupathi, Sania Mirza and (chess wizard) Viswanathan Anand who all train and play abroad," he said while hoping that India's two Olympic hopes in badminton, Anup Sridhar and Saina Nehwal, would do their best. Seasoned boxing official Kishen Narsi said the world boxing body is keen that the organising and judging is fair and free of controversies and has put in measures to ensure these like computerised draws.

The Indian Junior Men's Boxing Team (Born in 1992 & 1993) comprising of 5 boxers and 2 Coaches will be returning from Azerbaijan at 8.30 am today (12 May 2008) at IGI Airport New Delhi.History has been created as Shiv Thapa (50 kgs) won the Gold Medal in the Hyder Aliyev International Boxing Tournament at Azerbaijan by comprehensively defeating his opponent in the Finals from the host Country by RSC OS in the second round. Devendro Singh (48 kgs) won the Bronze Medal. This is the first time that an Indian Boxer has won a Gold Medal at the Hyder Aliyev International Tournament which has a very tough group of participants fom various European Countries in addition to the erstwhile CIS Block. The best that India could get in the earlier years was only a Bronze Medal. Approximately 150 boxers participated in this Tournament. Both Shiv Thapa and Devendro Singh are trainees from the Army Sports Institute, Pune under the tutelage of the Cuban Coach.
A Press Conference has been scheduled to be held at the Karnail Singh Stadium, New Delhi at 3.00 pm today (12 May 2008) where all the 5 Boxers (including Shiv Thapa & Devendro Singh) and the Coaches will be available to share their experiences with the Press and Media.All the boxing loving journalists and the media are requested to kindly make it convenient to attend and encourage the budding young pugilists who have made the Country proud by their excellant feat.