Beware! Indian boxers are ready to storm the world: Sandhu

New Delhi:

Akhil Kumar's fearlessness, Jitender Kumar's grit and Vijender Singh's technical prowess have forced the International Boxing Association to sit up and acknowledge India's growing stature in the sport, says coach Gurbax Singh Sandhu.

Indian boxing had its best ever Olympic outing in Beijing, getting its first medallist in Vijender, who clinched a bronze in the middle weight category at the Games.

Besides, Akhil and Jitender contributed to the overall success story with their quarterfinal appearances after beating some higher-ranked opponents.

"AIBA President Ching-Kuo Wu said 'Beware! the Indian boxers are coming'. He met our boxers, lauded their performance and said if we continue this way, we will storm the world," Sandhu said.

"I think it augurs well for Indian boxing and we can look forward to having more of our boys qualifying for the 2012 Olympics in London and certainly more medals," he said.
Sandhu has had a long on-an-off stint with Indian boxing and he says the hard work finally paid off in Beijing.

"We have done a lot of hard work. These boys put their heart and soul into preparing for these games and the results are there for everyone to see. We may have won just one bronze medal but the overall impact of our performance would be far reaching," he said.

Sandhu said though he is satisfied with the performance, Akhil missing out on a medal remains a low-point of the campaign.