July, 31: A gold medal is always welcome. But for Ashish Kumar, the triumph in Thailand couldn’t have come at a better time.
The 75kg boxer from Himachal Pradesh made his breakthrough with a silver at the Asian Championships in April. Another silver followed at the India Open the month after. But while they established him as a contender in a category which has given India stars such as Vijender Singh and Vikas Krishan, the missed gold medals put Ashish in a funk of self-doubt.
Part of it was bad calls and bad luck. “At one point, I lost a string of international bouts on split decisions. And at the India Open, my semifinal opponent headbutted me and the bad cut meant I had to concede the final.”
But mostly, it’s been due to not backing himself when it counts.
“In the Asian Championship final, I just switched my game and started doing something different. My opponent then dominated me,” says Ashish. “I have always played openly and aggressive. But somebody would tell me to be more cautious and I would straightaway go into a shell. I’d lose the first round and for a referee, that’s it. You might dominate the last round but you’d still lose that match. So it became sort of a mental block.”
On Saturday, Ashish crossed that hurdle, emerging as the lone gold medallist as India finished with eight medals at the Thailand Open. “I was extremely nervous. The thought was there whether I will be able to perform or not. But I had been in Bangkok before. Plus the coaches were behind me. And after getting the first win against a local boxer, I felt that the nervousness was out of my system. After that, I was very confident in my game and something told me I’m going to win my first international gold here.”
The first fight, incidentally, was against Aphisit Khankhokkruea, the Thai boxer who headbutted Ashish in the India Open semifinal. The Indian finished the competition with commanding 5-0 scorelines in the semifinal and final.
“I feel a lot more assured now. A lot lighter. Now I think, when the coaches and everyone is telling me that I have the talent, I don’t know why I used to be so timid.”
Lack of conviction was partly because of the competitive category. The 24-year-old spent a lot of time in camp busy being the understudy or sparring partner for his seniors.
(The Indian Express)
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