Akhil,Jitender want to make most of Cuba trip before team slot fight

The upcoming Cuba trip will be one of the few tours that will see both the boxers travelling together,with Akhil competing in featherweight for just this tour. Once featherweight goes out starting September,both boxers will have to begin competing for one bantamweight spot in the national team.

‘Motivating factor’

“To be honest,competing with Akhil bhai has been a privilege for me. I learnt boxing from him,so being in the same weight category as him motivates me. It was difficult for me to maintain my weight,so I moved to bantam after Olympics. I know there is only one spot available in the team,but we both take it positively,” said Jitender,who joined the team on Saturday after taking his graduation exams in Bhiwani.

Akhil represented India in bantamweight in last month’s Commonwealth Boxing Championship,where he bowed out of the first round,while Jitender missed the recent China 3-Star event due to an injury he picked up during the Commonwealth Games camp in Delhi. “I was looking forward to the Chinese event but I had an ear injury during one of the sparring sessions at Karnail Singh Stadium. The silver at the Asian championship in Zuhai last year had upped my confidence,so I was unfortunate to miss out in Milan. Cuba has warm weather and this trip will give us a chance to train with Cuban as well as European boxers,who also practise there,” Jitender said.

While this is the second trip to the boxing hotbed for Jitender,Akhil will be going to Cuba for the fourth time and believes that the domestic club culture is the key to the country’s success in Olympics. “The invitational tournaments in Cuba see the participation of almost every world champion. In 2002,when I had gone there for the first time,the reigning Olympic champion was defeated by a junior Cuban boxer. They have a very strong club culture and every time a boxer turns professional,there is someone ready to replace him,” said Akhil.