On Saturday, at the AIBA World Cup, although the four boxers – Akhil Kumar, AL Lakra, Dinesh Kumar and Jitender Kumar – lost their quarterfinal matches, it was a heart-warming sight for the coach to watch the Cubans altering their games and shirking “close-quarter bouts”.

“The Cubans were scared of us. They avoided close-quarter bouts. I’m extremely happy about it. We lost two bouts – 6:3 and +4:4 of Jitender Kumar and Akhil Kumar respectively – on close margins,” Sandhu told TOI from Mexico, before his wards collected the medals on Sunday.

“It’s really great. I can’t believe the boys are going back with four medals from the World Cup. I expected two medals utmost. But four? Not really. Obviously, I expected a silver or a gold from Akhil. According to me, with an individual score of 9-7 after the fight, I thought the fight should’ve been awarded to Akhil. But he was unlucky.”

For many, it has been a pleasant surprise to see the meteoric rise of Indian boxing, especially in the past year. Sandhu provided the reason behind it. “We (the boxing community) have been following a system for the last few years. This success is a result of that. Abhay Singh Chautala (president, IBF) and PK Murlidharan Raja (secretary) and SAI of Delhi and Patiala have all worked together to put boxing where it is.

“It’s also because of the enthusiasm amongst the boxers. In my whole career, I’ve not seen fifty boxers in a national camp prior to going for a tournament abroad. Usually, when the list of participants are announced for the torunament, boxers pull out of the camp giving flimsy excuses but this time I saw that they were motivated to give a good sparring to the Moscow-bound boxers.”

But these are recent developments. Long before, in 1998, the talented Dingko Singh won the gold (Asian Games) and Gurucharan Singh made it to the quarters (2000 Olympics) and these feats inspired a generation of boxers and instilled belief in them. Vijender, Jitender, Akhil are a great bunch of boxers who’ve all been brought up watching Dingko and Gurucharan. The success story started from then onwards and it can only get better,” stated Sandhu.

Akhil said that they are enjoying success because of their predecessors’ efforts just like the following generation will benefit from them, “The fact that we’ve been able to come close to Cuba in this Cup and almost managed to beat them is a huge step forward for Indian boxing. It’s a step-by-step process. We’re trying to better what Gurucharan and Dingko achieved during their days.”

The Goan coach also explained why he was asked to leave from the dug out towards the end of the game.

“The fourth official told me not to wear my suit as it would distract the players. I protested against this and asked how it distracts. He advised me to sit down and when I refused to do so, the referee decided to eject me. I didn’t understand the reason for it,” said Elvis.

The game was marred with some rowdy behaviour on the part of Mohun Bagan fans as they threw bottles on the field to show their distraught against the result.

“Somebody needs to control the fans. The clubs must be warned and then fine must be imposed on them by the AIFF. We must have a progressive plan and it must be followed strictly without any bias,” added Elvis.

In the earlier match of the day, a Michael Tayo goal in the dying minutes enabled Air India hold qualifiers Oil India Limited (OIL) 1-1.

The two surprising results made it a group of death with leaders Air India (4 points), Mohun Bagan (three) and Vasco (three) having a chance to make the final-four cut.

In the last set of Group D matches, Vasco will take on OIL, already out of contention, while Bagan will face Air India on Tuesday to determine the semi-finalist.

With Sunday’s win, Vasco thus stopped the Bagan juggernaut, snapping the local favourite’s seven-match unbeaten streak combining both the I-League and the ongoing Federation Cup.

The day simply did not belong to the Kolkata giants, and with Bhaichung Bhutia declared off-side twice in both the halves, they simply could not set the ball rolling.

The first-half saw lapses in Bagan’s mid-field and though they still had some chances, P C Lalawmpuia, Ishfaq Ahmed and Marcos Pereira were not on target.

A desperate Bagan coach Karim Bencherifa replaced Lalawmpuia with the injured Barreto in the 56th minute but the Brazilian too could not change the complexion of the match.

Mohun Bagan could have averted the defeat but for Habibur Rahman Mondal, who deflected a Bhaichung header inline with the net only to be declared off-side in the 68th minute.

From a Pereira freekick which hit the cross, Baichung took control from the rebound with a rising header but the shot was unnecessarily deflected by Mondal as Bagan failed to score.

Eleven minutes later, Colaco stunned Bagan with a powerful shot which beat goalie Sangram Mukherjee.

In the four minutes of stoppage time, Bagan had a chace to equalise but Baichung, having proved unlucky twice, failed to connect it properly as his side went down to Vasco, who are languishing at the bottom of I-League table.

“I would’ve healed quicker if I’d given the Olympics a miss, specially since I then wouldn’t have taken a cortisone shot which delays complete recovery,” Anup, who beat Marco Vasconcelos of Portugal in the first round before going down to Shoji Sato of Japan in the second round in Beijing Games, told PTI.

“But I had a shot at the biggest competition in the world and if I had to do things over I would still go ahead with the cortisone shot and participate in the Olympics games,” he added.

Though his dream of representing India at the Olympics materialised, what followed was a prolonged period of frustration as he was forced to stay away from the court for more than three months, owing to his injury.

“It has been a very tough time in my life. My whole life revolves around badminton and if I’m not even sure of getting back to full fitness, that’s a very hard thing to deal with.

“I haven’t been out of the court for even two weeks at a stretch in the last three years or so and this has been the hardest thing for me,” Anup said.

“Initially after getting back from Beijing, I tried to get fit a bit too quickly, and paid the price for it. I even tried taking rest for a few weeks but that didn’t help either. I’ve been forced to figure things out for myself like who’s the right doctor to consult, what kind of treatment routine to follow etc. So that has made it quite hard,” he said.

The passport which was caught in a bureaucratic wrangle and had not renewed by the Regional Passport Office of Hyderabad was given to Saina after the matter was raised in media and the Chief Passport Officer, New Delhi, R Swaminathan intervened.

“I am very happy that I got my passport renewed on time and I am really thankful to R Swaminathan and the Hyderabad passport office for understanding my predicament. I also am thankful to the media for their support,” Saina was quoted as saying by PTI.

“Now the first thing is to get the visa as soon as possible. I would be leaving for Chennai on Monday morning and would apply for the visa straightway,” she added.

Her coach and former All-England champion Pullela Gopichand had revealed that Saina, India’s best badminton player and world No.10, was invited to the tournament after two Chinese players ranked higher than her pulled out.

“It will be really sad if she misses the event because it is a season ending top 8 event which she got through only after two Chinese girls pulled out on Thursday night. One thing is that she was there on Decembder10, yesterday and day before, so it is not that she went only after office hours. She has been making rounds of the passport office everday for the last three days,” said Gopichand.

When the matter was brought to the notice of Swaminathan, he assured that he would personally look into the matter and get the passport reissued.

“Saina applied for the passport on December 2. It generally takes 15 days for reissuing a new passport. In this case seeing the urgency she should have applied through tatkal facility. I have spoken to the Hyderabad passport officer and now she will get the passport today itself,” said Swaminathan.

Earlier, Saina had slammed Hyderabad RPO for not even allowing her to meet the concerned officer.

“The passport officer didn’t even want to meet me and so I couldn’t explain my case to him. The passport office refused to renew my passport and asked me to come on Monday. I requested him thrice but to no avail,” Saina said.

She, however, said she is still hopeful of getting her passport in time to join seven other players at the BWF World Super Series Masters Final in Malaysia.

“I am in shock since yesterday. This is the highest tournament that an Indian player has got a chance to play. I will still try to make it to the tournament if I get the passport. I will go to Chennai and try and get the visa after that,” she said.

“This does not happen to cricketers and film stars. Then why me? It’s a very important tournament for me,” she added.

According to reports, authorities had told Saina that her passport will not be renewed before next Monday.

Saina’s renewed passport was to be issued by December 10 but the lapse on the part of the Regional Passport Office of Hyderabad may cost the badminton player one of the biggest opportunities of her career.

The BWF World Super Series Masters Final in Malaysia from December 18 to 21 allows only world’s top eight players to participate.

When she got the news of her qualification, she sought an appointment with the passport officer on Friday but her request was brushed aside, with the officer’s secretary telling her to come on Monday.

Second half substitutions and their brilliance in set pieces were the key factors for Mohun Bagan in their hard fought victory against the underdogs.

Mohun Bagan decided to field a strong star studded line-up with Bhaichung and Baretto upfront with the experience of Deepak Mandal and Sangram Mukherjee at the back. Oil India had just one foreign player in their line-up with Okwuelumezekiel partnering Durga to form the strike force as Stephen Mbanyam wasn’t fit.

The Kolkata side were in for a surprise when it was the team from Assam who had the first opportunity to strike. Some good play from the left saw Okwuelumezekiel’s skills inside the box leave Mohun Bagan defence in sixes and sevens in the third minute.

The next minute Durga couldn’t get a good shot on goal as Anandavasan did well to put the Oil India striker under pressure on the run.

Mohun Bagan got s surprise lead in the ninth minute from a set-piece. Marcos Pereira’s grounder from the center wasn’t well collected by goalkeeper Pradeep Dutta and spilled it for Bhaichung to find Lalkamal. The midfielder’s floater was headed in by Jose Baretto.

Left winger Wari ran past a slow Anandavasan and his resultant cross was cleared by Deepak Mandal. Such was Oil India’s dominance that they had won five corners inside the first 20 minutes!

Malswamtulunga was guilty for Mohun Bagan for wasting a goalscoring opportunity after Rakesh Masih and Marcos Pereira did well to lay the ball for him just outside the box from a Habibur Rahman throw-in.

There was a moment of confusion in the Oil India backline when Habibur Rahman took a short free-kick to find Marcos, whose teasing ball almost produced an own goal around the half hour mark.

The equaliser came in the 36th minute as Zaidin Hmar’s searching ball was lobbed in by Durga with Mohun Bagan custodian Sangram Mukherjee off his line.

Karim Bencherifa was forced to opt for pacy players – Ishfaq Ahmed and Lalwampuia instead of Malswamtulunga and Lalkamal Bhowmick at the start of the second half. Mohun Bagan switched to a 4-3-3 formation for the usual 4-4-2.

The move instantly brought rewards as the Kolkata side looked much calmer than the first 45.Ishfaq Ahmed’s shot hit Bhaichung Bhutia and the ball fell to Marcos Pereira. The Brazilian’s power packed shot enforced a save from goalkeeper Pradeep Dutta.

The winner came in the 57th minute Jose Baretto added another to his name from a coolly converted penalty. A Marcos Pereira flag-kick was acrobatically hit by Bhaichung which was stopped off the goalline by Jyothish Basumatari, but with his hand.

The 67th minute saw Bhaichung finding Lalwampuia in space on the right whose cross was chested by Baretto for the Indian international. ‘The Sikkimese Sniper’s’ shot was blocked in time in what could have been the third goal of the evening for Mohun Bagan.

A brilliant run by Ishfaq ended with a ball to Bhaichung whose header was blocked by an onrushing Pradeep Dutta.

The match ended with the same scoreline and Mohun Bagan share the top spot with Air India, who earlier won against Vasco.

Goalscorer Bagan: Jose Baretto (9th min and 57th pen)

Goalscorer Oil India: Durga (36th min)

The gritty 27-year-old matched his Cuban rival blow-for-blow all through the bout at the end of which the duo was tied 4-4.

But the ensuing count-back found Akhil trailing Alarcon in the overall tally of punches given by the judges.

In a cliffhanger of a bout, Akhil and Alarcon were cautious to start with and the opening round ended 0-0.

The two exchanged a couple of blows in the second round to be locked 2-2.

The third round had Alarcon leading by a point but Akhil managed to bridge the small gap by scoring the only point of the fourth and final round.

“I had worked out a defensive plan for today and he, it seemed, had a similar strategy. We both remained cautious and though I lost, I can proudly say that I gave it my best,” Akhil said.

“It hurts not to have won the gold medal that I always aim for but I am happy that I could give an Olympic silver medallist a run for his money. It was an exciting fight which I enjoyed thoroughly. Anyways my motto in life is get up and

keep moving until you achieve your goal,” he added.

Earlier, Jitender Kumar (51kg) showed early promise before running out of steam against Olympic silver medallist Hernandez Laffita, losing 6-14.

The Haryana-boxer led 4-2 in the first round but Laffita bounced back to blank Jitender 3-0 in the second round.

The next two rounds also belonged to the Cuban, who landed 11 scoring punches against Jitender’s two to romp home comfortably.

“I did pretty well in the first round but lost my composure in after that. It happens but I am happy with the way I performed,” said Jitender.

A L Lakra also put up a brave fight against Cuban Idel Torriente but eventually lost 3-6 to settle for the third spot.

Light heavy weight pugilist Dinesh Kumar will take the ring later on Sunday against Russia’s Artur Berbetiev.

Sania Mirza has been conferred a Doctorate by the MGR Educational and Research Institute University for her achievements in sports. I am really wondering what her achievements are ?
1. In most of the tourneys that she has played, she has been knocked out in the 2nd round, earning her the soubriquet “Second round Sania”.
2. Winner of one ATP Tournament, though the only Indian in Women’s Tennis
3. Retired hurt in the Olympics. Why did she go if she knew she was injured. That too at the expense of taxpayers.
4. First Indian Woman to be seeded in a Grand Slam tournament.

I have nothing against Sania, but I feel too much is being made about her achievments. Consider the case of MC Mary Kom. She has won the World Championships in boxing for 4 continous years. Doesnt speak with an accented drawl. Despite her achievements , neither the Government nor any other University has bothered to recognise her achievments. Or is it the question of having the right agency to market you around ??

Sorry Sania, but there are more deserving candidates for a Doctorate than you.

And, therefore, sitting at a Moscow restaurant a day after entering the bantam weight semi-finals of AIBA boxing World Cup, he is getting ready for Saturday’s final, trying to keep his mind away from irritants.

“When you are going through good times, even your dislikes don’t bother you much. I hate cold weather. I also get irritated when touring abroad, since you have to be doubly cautious about the diet. I’m quite sick of maintaining 54 kg for the last five years. But you see I’ve won a medal in World Cup so everything seems just fine. There is a good and bad side to everything,” says Akhil from Moscow.

It’s his “experience and will” rather than “fitness” which got him the World Cup success, Akhil feels. “Sometimes a boxer has fitness but not the experience and the willpower. Right now, I have the latter more than the former. I’m not up to the shape I was in during the Olympics but I’m wealthier otherwise.”

By “experience and will” Akhil is not just referring to what he has derived from his profession. He had to go under the knife for his wrist-injury twice and the surgeries have helped him endure pain in greater proportion.

“I’ve got more experienced after the operations. I’m mentally tougher, more used to the pain. It has helped in building my confidence massively. Well, I have also improved because of faster reaction-time, footwork and the physical training that I’m putting in with trainer Heath Mathews.”

However, whichever medal Akhil returns with from Moscow, it will not help erase the pain of a medal-less Olympics.

“That pain will stay with me forever… I believe in Swami Vivekananda’s philosophy which says ‘arise, awake and stop not till the goal is reached’. I haven’t reached my goal yet. The Olympics let people know that there is a boxer called Akhil. Now it is important to keep performing. I won’t be bothered about medals but only my performance till I compete in London Olympics.”