Indian Boxing Thread

[indiansportsfan]

Vikas is through to R16 after winning against his Japanese opponent. Also Devendro is through to last 8 after winning against his Argentinian opponent. Vikas has rather an easy draw and if he is not able to qualify, he has nobody to blame rather than himself. Devendro may have to get past Ukrainian boxer in the SF, which will not be easy.

However whats the deal with our boxers getting the wrong end of close bouts because of no proper federation? How would that have made a difference in the bout result? As it is AIBA has stopped the practice of filing complaints, and what good does filing complaints do anyway? Its true that India does not have any referees or judges in this tournament, but then all the referees/judges for a bout are from neutral countries, and 3 out of 5 are selected at random. It is hard to find bias in this method. Isn't this rather a case of incompetent boxers just finding something to blame?

We should realize the fact that we are now rather an average country in the boxing pecking order. We have just 1 decent boxer in Shiva Thapa (who is still probably only 4th or 5th best), and 2 half-decent ones in Vikas and Devendro, who are not in the top 5-6 in the world. So it is rather futile to expect our boxers to win anything at the Olympic level. We need good luck with the draw for Thapa to win a bronze (Gold-Silver are out of contention).

[arjun2761]

However whats the deal with our boxers getting the wrong end of close bouts because of no proper federation? How would that have made a difference in the bout result? As it is AIBA has stopped the practice of filing complaints, and what good does filing complaints do anyway? Its true that India does not have any referees or judges in this tournament, but then all the referees/judges for a bout are from neutral countries, and 3 out of 5 are selected at random. It is hard to find bias in this method. Isn't this rather a case of incompetent boxers just finding something to blame?

Agree with most of the statements in the post above and bigger impact of not having an effective federation is that our coaching/training/competition schedule probably hasn't been professionally or optimally managed.

However, some of the judging is subjective and at least in gymnastics it has been revealed that some judges would favor some countries on a reciprocal basis. Not sure if that is the case in boxing but the fact that there are no Indian judges does provide an incentive for at least some of the "neutral" judges to not favor India over others that they may favor with the hope (if not collusion) that the favor would be returned...

[sameerph]

Also it is naïve to think that the judges do no get pressurised into giving marginal decision in favour of boxers from countries who have more clout in AIBA. They know that we do not even have an organisation and therefore the prospect of someone coming around to protest against their decisions is not much. The current system of scoring in boxing ( points being displayed only at the end of the round ) is also too subjective and can lead to may disputed.

Overall, I agree with Arjun's statement that bigger impact of not having a federation for our boxers is not getting sufficient tournament exposure/ training . Our fall in standards is mainly on this account and not because we have incompetent boxers as compared to in the past.

[Sin Hombre]

Amateur boxing has really dubious umpiring and it is extremely naive to think there isn't collusion (I scratch your back, you scratch mine). Sports don't operate in an idealistic corruption and cheating free world.

[sameerph]

In 81 kgs., Sumit Sangwat beat Erdenebayar Sandagsuren(MGL) 3-0 to enter quarter finals.

In 64 kgs., Manoj Kumar beats ISMETOV Ayrin Smetov of Bulgaria 2-1 to enter quarter finals.

Both are now 1 win away from gaining the Rio quota.

Devendro and Vikas will fight their bouts later today.

[Tolamu]

Devendro enters SF beating South African Sibusiso 3-0 in QF, Now 1 more win away from Rio.

[arjun2761]

Vikas wins as well to make the QF with a 3-0 win over a boxer from Georgia.

[ankit1407]

moves in to QF

[Tolamu]

All the 4 remaining Indians are 1 win away from a Rio berth(SF or F).I'll be happy if at least 2 go thru.

[indiansportsfan]

Vikas has probably the easiest bout, against a Korean. He should almost certainly make it. Even Manoj and Devendro's opponents are not that bad, both look 50/50 to me. Sangwan may have the toughest challenge. We could end up with anywhere from 1 to 4 qualifiers.

[sameerph]

I would be disappointed with anything less than 2 quota places here. Happy if we get 3.

in case of Sumit, Manoj and Vikas they have a shot even if they lose the QF. If the boxers they lose to go on to win the gold, they will get the fifth quota place for Rio in their weight category. That is a strong possibility particularly in case of Sumit who is meeting the top seed Russian in the QF.

Devendro has no such second chance and has to win his bout against a Spaniard who upset the top seed in the QF.

[Sin Hombre]

Vikas of course has one more qualification tournament to go.

[sameerph]

Both Manoj Kumar and Vikas Krishan have won their QF bouts 3-0 against boxers from Tajikistan and Korea respectively to make it to the SF and with that clinch 2 more quota places for India for Rio Olympics.

Manoj's bout was closer as he lost the third round after winning the first 2.

Sumit Sangwan's QF will come up in the evening session. He has a tougher bout against top seed from Russia.

[arjun2761]

Good results by the Indians so far! Hopefully, Sumit and Devendro can also pull off wins and qualify.

Just noted that Sumit isn't ranked because he hasn't competed due to injury. If fit, he probably would be in the top-10, so should give his #6 Russian opponent a good battle...

[sameerph]

This bout is currently live on AIBA site, Arjun-

AIBA boxing olympics qualifiers