For now, before the medal, they await the official draw on August 8. A draw is more crucial in boxing than most other sports. With competitors not seeded, top players can confront each other very early, even in the first round. “Boxing is a different ballgame,” explains Sandhu. “Each bout is a championship.”

Draw crucial

The draw is important, concedes AL Lakra of Jamshedpur (57 kg), but we have achieved so much, it should not worry us. As the music at last switches to “Eye of the Tiger”, he smiles meaningfully when asked about the great Lakra legacy in hockey. Hockey in these Games has a big India-sized absence, this Lakra is dreaming of India’s first boxing medal.

Akhil, 27, bears the burden of expectations after beating the Athens silver medalist, Thailand’s Worapoj Petchkoom, in February to qualify for the Olympics. But Athens is a memory he’s probably tried to forget, having been knocked out in the first round. So, does he play his favourite music in his mind before a bout to fight pressure, as cricketers from the Caribbean do? No, then it’s just a prayer to God.

But sound and how he senses it tell Akhil a lot. When the score is up, he says, he hears everything around, the roar of the spectators, the words of the support staff. When it’s down, he hears nothing, not even the coach. Then it’s time to close his eyes and tell himself, I have to win.

... contd.