Flyweight Bidhuri's silver lining

City boxer looks to impress in national camp after strong performance at debut Nationals

It is the evening after Diwali, and while the rest of his neighborhood is still feeling the effects of the previous day's celebrations, Gaurav Bidhuri is working up a sweat. In the basement of his house in South East Delhi's Madanpur Khadar village, which serves as a makeshift boxing hall, the wiry 19-year-old slams punches into the heavy bag. The national camp in Patiala begins in only a couple of days, and Bidhuri wants to iron out the flaws in his technique.

There are only a few of those.

Rated as one of the upcoming flyweight (52kg) prospects in the country, Bidhuri has just won a silver in his debut Senior Boxing Nationals earlier this month, upsetting National Games gold medalist Sunil Kumar along the way. But while most youngsters would be happy with such a performances, Bidhuri, wondered where he had gone wrong in his final bout which he lost 21-11 against Madan Lal of Services.

"After the finals I wasn't too disappointed. The scoreline may seem lopsided, but I never felt out of the contest. My only goal was to work on my weaknesses. I felt that perhaps I needed to be more busy," says Bidhuri.

Overall though he says his goal was achieved. "Before the tournament, I really wanted to beat Sunil. When I was in the national camp last year, he was the best boxer and so winning against him will give me a lot of confidence," says Bidhuri.

Bidhuri will not be going to the NIS for the first time He had been part of the camp after having won bronze at the National Games. At that point in time he was competing in the 49kg category. At the camp however, his performance dipped. At the trials to select the team for the first Olympic qualifying tournament, he was pipped by Devendro whom he had beaten only a few months before at the National Games.

... contd.

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