World Boxing Cup Finals: Indian boxers look to cap off busy season with podium finishes

NEW DELHI: Indian men’s boxing has been seeing a transitional shift of late and in this churn, Hitesh Gulia and Jadumani Singh have emerged as the ones with most promise.Go Beyond The Boundary with our YouTube channel. SUBSCRIBE NOW!Both started the year well, winning medals at the Brazil and Kazakhstan stages of the World Boxing Cup. However, they suffered reversals at Liverpool’s World Championships in Sept, suffering contrasting defeats. While Hitesh, seeded third, endured an unexpected first-round defeat to Netherlands’ Bos Finn Robert in the 70kg, Jadumani showed enough glimpses of his talent to reach the 50kg quarterfinals before losing narrowly to former world champion Sanzhar Tashkenbay of Kazakhstan.With the World Boxing Cup (WBC) Finals starting in Greater Noida from next week, the duo seem ready to put back recent setbacks and capitalise on their earlier success in the season finale. Speaking to TOI, Hitesh and Jadumani gave a peek into the lessons learnt, and their preparations.“In Liverpool, I was hoping for gold but in boxing, one punch can change everything. I got caught by a timing punch in the last round, which led to a count, and that cost me the bout. Since then, I have been working on my first round scoring and attacking,” said Hitesh, the reigning national champion in the 70kg. “The main feedback was about my first-round scoring. It was usually a bit low. So, we have added more aggression early in the bout to set up the tone. I have focused on improving my attacking right from the start,” he added.On his part, the 21-year-old Jadumani acknowledged his attacks being too straightforward, with the combinations lacking variation. “My natural game is attacking. My punches were powerful, but the combinations lacked variation which made it easier for opponents to read my moves. I have worked on mixing things up using my defence, feints, double attacks, and counter-attacks. Now, I am defending smartly and then countering when there’s an opening. It’s about being smart and deceptive,” the 21-year-old from Imphal added.The 20-year-old Hitesh wants to finish the season on a high. “It was a great season. I won gold at the National Games, then gold and silver at the World Cups, and even though I missed a medal in Liverpool, the experience made me stronger. I just want to end this year on a high note,” he said.