Devendro the dark horse ready to pack a punch

“Just before the World Championship trials,Col Bhoker asked me if we can suggest someone’s name,” says Rana.

“I said,we have a boy. He has never been at a national camp,and is still only in the youth category,but he has a lot of killer instinct. So Col. Bhoker went through all the official channels,spoke to the national coach (Gurbux Singh Sandhu) and requested that he give Devendro a trial.”

Defeating the likes of Amandeep Singh and Nanao Singh,both Asian Championship silver medalists,Devendro booked himself a ticket to Baku,Azerbaijan,for the World Championship. A quarterfinal finish there earned him Olympic qualification. With Devendro,Shiva Thapa (56kg),Vikas Krishan (69kg) and Sumit Sangwan (81kg),the ASI has produced four of the seven male boxers to have qualified from India.

Ahead of the Olympics,the ASI has paid special attention to Devendro’s needs. Since January this year,Rana has worked one-on-one with Devendro at the Olympic boxers’ camp,plotting the course of his preparations in detail. And even though he will not be in London to whisper into his ear ringside,his work is by no means over.

“At this stage,the most important thing for him is to steer clear of injury and illness,and keep his weight in check,” says Rana.

“On Friday,they will announce the draw,and then I will know which opponents I will be pitted against. By mail and phone,I will keep in touch with Devendro. I won’t get too much sleep till then.” Through the course of the national camps at the National Institute of Sports,Patiala,and abroad,Rana has already spent hours on researching the world’s best light flyweights.

“At the national camp,I collected videos of all the qualified boxers and their bouts,and sat in my room and studied them meticulously,” says Rana. “I chose sparring partners according to the style of the boxer we were training against. Half an hour before training,I would talk to Devendro through the tactics that I wanted him to follow.” Head coach Sandhu gave Rana free rein in devising Devendro’s training routines.

“Each of the seven qualified boxers had a separate coach,” Rana said.

“He (Sandhu) would keep an eye on what we were doing,but never interfered.” Devendro,according to Rana,has “hyper will power,” and his biggest task has been to keep his aggression in check. But with every training camp,Rana has noticed growing restraint in his ward’s style.

“In June,we had a preparatory camp in Ireland,Devendro had a three-round bout against Paddy Barnes,who won bronze at the Beijing Olympics. For the first two rounds,he completely dominated,and I was slightly worried that he would get angry if I told him to try boxing a little more defensively in the third round. But he did as I told,and his movement was so good that Barnes couldn’t touch him.”

This has led to heightened belief in Devendro’s medal chances.

“Right now,the world number 1 in the 49kg is a Korean (Jonghun Shin) and the number two is Chinese (Shiming Zou). I think Devendro is capable of beating the top two,Unless he gets a difficult draw,or gets injured,I think he has got a 99 per cent chance of winning a medal,” Rana adds.