While others fell in a heap, Vijender Singh stood tall among the ruins. In the process, he ensured India won their first ever medal at boxing’s world championship by reaching the middleweight semifinals with a convincing win over Ukraine’s Sergiy Derevyanchenko on Wednesday night.
While Vijender has been on a dream run for last three years, a gold medal has always eluded him in major competitions. He won silver at the 2006 Commonwealth Games and 2007 Asian Championship, and a bronze in 2006 Asian Games, 2008 Beijing Olympics and 2009 Asian Championship.
This time around he doesn’t want to settle for anything other than top of the podium. “The job is only half done and I am not going to settle for a bronze this time around. I want to better my Beijing performance,” said Vijender. Even if he doesn’t, it’s still a great achievement by the Khel Ratna recipient, who was knocked out in the first round at the 2007 championship in Chicago.
In Friday’s semifinal bout Vijender will slog it out with Atoev Abbos, who won the light heavyweight title at the 2007 edition before moving down to middleweight this year.
Vijender is confident of taking down his Uzbek opponent whom he had beaten at the Asian Championships earlier this year. “This is the second time we are facing each other and I am 100 per cent sure of making it 2-0. I am technically a better boxer than him. Besides, I have never feared my opponents not matter what their reputation,” Vijender said.
Indian coach GS Sandhu also feels Vijender has the ability to go all the way. “He has shown a mature head throughout the championships. He has beaten his semifinal opponent few months ago at the Asian Championships so he should be confident of repeating his performance. Now that a medal has been assured, it will be our endeavour to try and change the colour from bronze to gold,” Sandhu said.
