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After the celebrated boxer Mary Kom was pitted against Scotland's Megan Gordon in the quarterfinals of the 48kg category in the Commonwealth Games, India's men's chief boxing coach Swatantar Raj Singh remains hopeful that the veteran would bag her first Commonwealth Games medal in her debut appearance at the event.
Speaking exclusively to Sportskeeda, SR Singh elaborated on the chances of the woman boxer who had bagged the Asian Boxing Championship for the fifth time last November. “She should return home with a medal. As the feather-weight category has only eight competitors, Mary Kom does have a great chance to win a medal,” he said
When asked whether the all elusive gold will be pocketed by her, he refused to get ahead of himself and proclaimed, “Winning the gold medal all depends on the performance of the boxer on that particular day. She has a great chance, but no one can predict anything in such events.”
The coach was left out of the travelling contingent after the Commonwealth Games Federation had ruled that the support staff size cannot go beyond one-third the size of the athletes contingent. The 12-member boxing team from India already has five coaches, which meant that SR Singh along with Shiv Singh, the women’s chief coach had to return to India after the one-week training camp ended.
However, that in no way hampered the preparations of the squad and SR Singh remains confident that along with Mary Kom, a few other boxers from the men’s contingent can pitch in with memorable performances.
“The draw is good, and I am hoping for at least 3-4 medals from the boxing contingent. However, as I said earlier, an athlete’s performance depends on the form he brings into the ring on the day his bout is to take place. Sometimes a player might draw a boxer from a weaker country but that does not necessarily mean that the boxer is weak. It is all dependent on how the boxer is feeling on that particular day.”
Along with Mary Kom, Vikas Krishnan was given a bye into the pre-quarterfinals of the 75kg category. The Indian boxing campaign will begin from 5th April, with 2010 CWG gold-medallist Manoj Kumar starting the proceedings.
