Jai Bhagwan Interview: "It pains when we take a punch but it hurts more when we miss it..."

This Haryanvi boy’s story may sound like the exact script of any Rocky Balboa movie. He hails from a small town of Karnal and slogged his way up to achieve success. Jai Bhagwan qualified for Olympics in the 60kg category and fulfilled his dream of participating in the Olympics come true. Now he aims for the Bull’s eye i.e a medal in London.

Q. How does it feel to be part of the Indian contingent for Olympics this year?

- I have been practising for this since the last ten years. The moment when I came to know that I have qualified, I got very emotional. It means so much to me and my family that I can’t describe it in words. My family has made a lot of sacrifices for me and I have gone through so much to finally make the cut.

Q. What is your training schedule like?

- We are practicing really hard. With the Olympics right around the corner, the training sessions are quite rigorous now. We practice for around 6 hours daily. We are focussing on improving our skills, techniques and fitness of course. We are currently training in Patiala where the temperature touches 45 degree almost, so you can well imagine how difficult it gets for us while training.

Q. How are the coaches helping you in the training?

- We have some excellent coaches to help us in training. We are going through rigourous training routine under the watchful eyes of Mr.B I Fernandes, our Cuban coach, who has been working with the Indian team since over ten years now and is an expert. Our Indian coach, G.S.Sandhu, is also an experienced person and its great to be training under such people.

Q. Do you think Boxers from India have a realistic chance to win medals in Olympics?

- Of course yes. The competition obviously is going to be tough but I am positive that we are going to return with some medals and make India proud. We still have a month left to train and I can tell you this, we will give it out best shot.

Q. From which countries will you be facing your toughest opponents?

- In the Olympics, every boxer is a tough opponent. The boxers from the gulf countries are really tough to fight but according to me, the Cuban boxers will be the main hurdle for us.

Q. Do you think government is supporting the game and the players enough?

- The facilities are fine but not that great. Olympics is the biggest tournament and every country prepares their players in a great way. In India, they don’t give us enough facilities and then expect us to win medals. That’s a little tough on us athletes. There’s a lot of room for improvement in many departments but we all know how this system works. So as of now, we are just making the best use of what we have.

Q. Injured are an integral part of Boxing. How do you avoid or deal with the injuries?

- We have doctors and physios travelling with us and helping us out with the injuries always. We injure ourselves all the time and bleed a lot. So, we have to be really careful. Apart from that we make sure we give proper rest to our bodies and rejuvenate ourselves for the next challenge.

Q.What is more painful-taking a punch or missing a punch?

- Haha (laughs)…well both are very painful. Of course it pains when we take a punch but it hurts more when we miss it. Because if we miss one, we give our opponent a chance to hit back at us.

Q. Will you be going abroad for any tournament or training now?

- Yes, we will be going to Ireland for a tournament and after that we have another one scheduled but the venue is yet to be decided.