Though he hails from a hockey heartland, Anthresh Lalit Lakra’s world revolves around the boxing ring. Now that Jharkhand’s hockey stars have failed to make it, hopes in the region are resting on the shoulders of this Jamshedpur lad, who became the first Indian boxer to qualify for the Beijing Olympics.

The 26-year-old pugilist mourns India’s hockey elimination, especially since he’ll miss the company of his friend and state-mate Ignace Tirkey at the Games.

Throwing more light on the friendship, which started during a camp at the Nehru Stadium in Delhi two years ago, he says: “One day Ignace came searching for me because he wanted to meet the lakda, as he fondly calls me. After that we became great friends.”

Though he does not know the other Tirkeys, Lakra says, “It would’ve been great had all of us been in Beijing together.”

Boxing in his blood

His father, Ernest, was himself a former international boxer and is now the chief coach at the Tata training centre. They belong to the first family of boxing in Jamshedpur — Lakra’s uncles and cousins are also into the sport. Right from the age of 10, his life revolved around boxing and he started showing promise early on.

In 1998, Lakra won a title at the international YMCA tournament in Delhi and, since then, there has been no looking back. With swift use of a right jab and left upper-cut, he has carved a niche for himself in the feather-weight (57 kg) category.

... contd.