Vijender urges boxing fans for patience

Mumbai:

Beijing Olympics bronze medallist Vijender Singh on Friday urged fans to be patient and have faith in the boxers and said he was optimistic that his exploits will inspire other pugilists to win more medals and bring laurels to the country.

Vijender won a bronze medal in the World boxing Championship in Milan to become the first Indian to win a medal in the competition earlier this month.

"This is the first time an Indian has won a medal in the event. A road has opened for us. We should be optimistic," Vijender said on the sidelines of a promotional event here.

"Overall the performance of the boxers was good. Dinesh Kumar and Suranjoy did well. The boxers they lost to went on to become silver medallists. I was lucky that I could win a medal for the country," said Vijender, who recently signed a multi-crore deal with celebrity management firm Percept.

Vijender said the hunger to succeed has increased among the boxing fraternity following the good performance of the Indian pugilists at Beijing last year.

"Earlier the aim was to participate in events but now it is to win," the 24-year-old boxer said.

On his loss to former light heavy weight world champion Abbos Atoev in Milan, the pugilist admitted that his opponent was better than him on that day.

"There were a few mistakes on my part and my opponent did well. He was luckier than me on that day," he said.