Indian boxers confident of finishing on podium in London

New Delhi: Four Indian boxers – Manoj Kumar, L Devendro Singh, Jai Bhagwan and Vikas Krishan – who have already qualified for the London Olympics, expressed confidence of bagging medals at the forthcoming sporting extravaganza.

"We are training hard to make it to the podium in London. And it has to be a gold for me," said Devendro Singh. Jai Bhagwan also said that nothing less than a first-paced finish would satisfy him. "Main gold ke niche nahin soch raha hoon (I am not thinking of anything less than a gold)," insisted Jai Bhagwan. The four boxers had qualified for the Olympics at the World Championships in Baku in October last year, which is considered to be one of the toughest boxing tournaments. But the boxers admitted that they are still working hard on a number of areas to improve their game. "Every boxer train according to his own needs. My area of concern is strength and I am concentrating on that," said Jai Bhagwan. Manoj added: "I am concentrating a lot on power punching and endurance, the two main areas that need focus under the new scoring system." In the new scoring system introduced by the International Amateur Boxing Federation (IABF), the points would be known only after the end of each round. The computer would record the points given by each judge and select the three nearest scores, and the average of it would be the points scored by a boxer. "It would take time to adjust to the new system but it is the same for everyone. I am sure we would get a hang of it during the various tournaments we would participate in, running up to the Olympics," said Jai Bhagwan. Stating that the Indian boxer are not taking anyone for granted, Vikas Krishan said, "Cannot consider anyone weak. So we will have to be prepared to face boxers from all countries." Jai Bhagwan, meanwhile, pointed out that "a lot depends on the draw" you one get during the event. Stating that there would be a number of competitions till June, Devendro said, "We are looking to prepare ourselves during the tournaments. Till June we have about four tournaments and we will try to grab the new scoring system as soon as possible." "Competitions are going to be held in Germany, France, besides there are other invitational tournaments also and we hope to get the maximum out of these events," said Vikas. PTI