For top seed Vijender Singh,playing defensively has been an important tactic over the last few months. On Tuesday night,riding high on that gameplan,the top seed in the middleweight category reached the quarter-finals of the world boxing championships in Milan with a narrow 4-2 win over Canadas Steve Ross. The Bhiwani boxer is now the lone Indian left in the biennial event after Dinesh Kumar bowed out of the championships after his bout against Beterbiev Artur of Russia was called off on Wednesday in the second round. I wanted to gauge his tactics and thats why I was a little defensive in the beginning. For me,defence is as important as attack in a bout and even though it was a low-scoring bout,I felt I was in the rhythm. Steve tried to open up my defence in the second round,but I was successful in my tactics. One cant always attack, said Vijender,who will now face Ukraines Sergiy Derevyanchenko in the quarter-finals. The Indian made a sedate start to the bout,trailing 1-0 in the opening round as Ross took the initiative and launched a flurry of upper cuts. But Vijender was rock solid in his defence before taking the lead by scoring two points in the second round compared to just one by the Canadian. Big hopes Sergiy has been playing well on the European circuit and knows the conditions well. We know that we are just one round away from a medal. After Beijing Olympics,one of the goals I set for myself was winning a medal at the world championships and I am eager for that to happen, Vijender said. Vijender makes it a point to give out inputs from the ringside during the bouts of his team mates and it has been a habit for the past one week. We all make it a point to attend each others bouts. Sharing inputs and shouting from the sidelines comes naturally to all of us and even if we are tired after our own bout or anxious before it,we do this to encourage each other, Vijender said. Dinesh lost to Artur after being given four official warnings on Wednesday. The Bhiwani boxer was trailing 5-3 before the bout was called off by the referee. Artur started aggressively and I could not regain my guard. It is disappointing as I was so close to a medal,but I will draw many positives from it, Dinesh said.
