The young Indian boxers, who gave a good account of skills and talent in the London Olympics, have reason to take pride in their fine performances at the mega event.
The boxers, who were honoured by team sponsor Monnet at a function here on Thursday, took heart from their showing and vowed to perform even better in future.
Heartbroken
Twenty-year-old Devendro Singh, who was unlucky to record fewer points against his Irish rival Paddy Barnes in a light flyweight quarterfinal bout, was heartbroken on narrowly missing out on an Olympic medal.
“I was so disappointed that I kept my mobile phone switched off and did not speak to my family for several days. I had trained so hard and given my best, yet I could not win a medal,” said Devendro.
Enriched by exposure
Nineteen-year-old Sumit Sangwan, who lost his light heavy preliminary bout to Brazilian Yamaguchi Falcao Florentino by a point, said he was enriched by the exposure.
Standing ovation
Light welterweight boxer Manoj Kumar was not disappointed despite going down against British boxer Thomas Stalker in the pre-quarters.
“I knew that I was the better boxer. I had landed more punches. He was a local favourite with a huge fan following. Still, after the bout I got a standing ovation. If you see the footage, you can notice our expressions. Even the Briton admitted that he had not fought well,” said the 25-year-old.
Beijing bronze medallist Vijender Singh said this outing would benefit the young boxers.
Recognising the boxers’ valiant effort, Monnet presented Rs. 1 lakh each to the seven male boxers, coach G.S. Sandhu and physio Hari Shankar Varma.
Women’s coach Anoop Kumar, who accompanied bronze medallist M.C. Mary Kom, also got Rs. 1 lakh.
Monnet also handed a cheque for Rs. 11 lakh to Mary Kom. The Olympic medallist from Manipur hoped that the Indian boxing team would return better results next time.
