Young boxers know how to tackle pressure situations: Sandhu

Gurbax Singh Sandhu, the national coach of the Indian boxing team, is a busy man these days. And why not? The Indian boxing team will leave for London on July 13 to participate in the Olympics and Gurbax, 59, the in-charge of the Indian boxing team, will hope his wards get India off to a perfect start. He has enough reasons to cheer as the Indian boxers have been doing well at the international circuit and the coach is upbeat about chances of the Indian boxers at the quadrennial event. In a chat with Sportline, Sandhu talks about the Indian boxing team, upcoming young boxers like Shiva Thapa and Devendro Singh and expectations of the people from the boxers. Excerpts

What, according to you, are the chances of the Indian boxers at the London Olympics?

In boxing, one cannot make predictions. It is a subjective sport and some part of it also depends on the draw that the boxers get during a tournament. But our boxers have been doing well and have scored big wins in the last few months. Shiva defeated a world champion last year and Devendro registered victory over an Olympic silver medallist. The current lot is highly motivated and most of them know how to handle pressure in tough situations. We all want to see Indian boxers doing well at the Olympics and also change the colour of Vijender's medal to yellow this time. The boxers and the support staff have been doing their best and we are hopefull of an improved performance at the London Olympics.

Last time at the Beijing Olympics, Indian boxers had the advantage of anonymity. Now most of the teams are familiar about them. How will you counter it?

... contd.

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