Out of the oddly sleepless world of Indian boxing came India’s second and then third punch at a medal at these Beijing Games. A day after Akhil Kumar beat the bantamweight world champion to enter the quarterfinals, his Bhiwani teammate beat Uzbek flyweight Tulashboy Doniyorov in the round of 16. Seven hours later Vijender Kumar followed them into the middle-weight quarters, after defeating the favourite, Thailand’s Angkhan Chomphuphuang. (There is no bronze medal playoff for boxing at the Olympics, so a semifinalist is assured of at least a bronze.)

Last night, Jitender would not let his Bhiwani teammate sleep. He needed his mentor to calm his nerves. “I play in Akhil’s style,” he said minutes after taking the four-round bout 13:6. “During the match he kept telling me to be aggressive, then to back-pedal. When I’d be aggressive, I would get points. Then I’d back-pedal (to keep Doniyorov away).”

Akhil and Jitender are the small guys of boxing. At 54 kg and 51 kg, respectively, they walk and even stand as if on a trampoline. Like all most other boxers, they like to talk. They talk till they have to be dragged away. And in a sport drawn from the most primal fascination for a bloodfest, they bare hearts large enough to dream big and to give the credit for those dreams to anyone who’d care to wish them well.

So, a bronze or a silver will not do for me, says Akhil, I want gold. If I take a medal, it will be Akhil’s, says 20-year-old Jitender, he’s my mother, father, sister, brother.

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