Indian boxers to study videos of Olympic rivals

NEW DELHI: The Indian Amateur Boxing Federation (IABF) is sending a videographer to shoot extensively the bouts involving the likely opponents of the five Indian boxers who qualified for the Beijing Olympics during the President's Cup in Taipei (Taiwan) May 24-June 2.

A team of coaches will go through the video footage shot by videographer Sambhu of the National Institute of Sports, Patiala, and study the technique of the boxers from various countries in detail so as to prepare the five Indians.

All the five Indians -- Vijender Singh, Dinesh Kumar, Akhil Kumar, Jitender Kumar and Antharish Lakra -- will be taking part in the Chinese Taipei event exclusively for the Olympic qualifiers.

"The President's Cup is like a mini Olympics and the Indians should derive maximum benefit from it as all the Olympic qualifiers from the world over will be there. The best way of studying the opponents of the Indians is to get a video of their bouts," IABF secretary P.K. Muralidharan Raja said, adding that he is awaiting the sports ministry's clearance for the videographer along with the squad.

He said after coming back from the tournament, the coaches and the five boxers would sit together and analyse the video footage.

"This will help them to understand the technical aspects like the footwork and the areas in which their probable opponents are strong or weak," said Raja.

"We are trying to do everything possible on our part to enhance our medal prospects at the Olympics. We should be able to win a medal or two. " Raja said.

"We are not looking for any big results from the President's Cup as we want the boxers to peak only towards late July or early August," he said.

Before Beijing, the Indians will train in Germany with the German boxers in the first week of June and then compete in an international event there.

National coach Gurbax Singh Sandhu is all for taking the videographer as it would help the boxers as well as coaches enormously in preparing for a major event like the Olympics.

"It is a progressive step by the federation and it will be of great help in planning out strategies," Sandhu said.

Indian boxers have vastly improved after the Athens Olympics and have been highly successful in winning medals at international meets. It is evident from the fact that the boxing squad to the Beijing Olympics is the biggest-ever from India.