Gurcharan holds a beacon of hope for India

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Sydney: Wednesday will be a day of reckoning for Indian boxing. And the man who holds the key to it is a 23-year-old Armyman, Gurcharan Singh. With many of the hopes in boxing and other sports falling by the wayside, this Haryana pugilist has emerged as a beacon of hope for India.

On Wednesday, the tall Indian goes up against Ukrainian Andriy Fedtchouk in the quarterfinals in what is easily the most important and significant bout of his career. A win in this bout will mean a place in history books, for it will assure him a medal, once he is in the semi-finals.

It will be the first ever boxing medal for India, and Ashok Kumar Mattoo, President of the Indian Amateur Boxing Federation, admits that this is the closest an Indian has come to a boxing medal.

"If he manages this (medal) it could not have happened to a better and more deserving boxer. He is hard working, an intelligent boxer and has got all the exposure he needs."

What about the fight against Fedtchouk? "I think Gurcharan has a good chance. But I don't want to say anything more. I don't want to put pressure on him. God willing it will happen and you will see a change in the attitude people have towards our sport."

Quickly he changes the topic and switches to the contingent in general, for he is also the chef de mission. "I feel we are going okay so far. A medal from Malleswari, a quarter-final berth in boxing and maybe something better (note the caution), hockey team on the verge of semi-finals, Beenamol's fine run. All these are indicators of a fairly good campaign. Of course there have been failures, too, but that's for individual federations to work out the reasons."

Gurcharan Singh is the most experienced of the boxing squad, having turned out for India in nearly two dozen competitions and his success rate, too, is good, with 11 golds from them. In the two rounds he went through, he showed the immense potential he has. Neither of his opponents there could be categorised as pushovers.

Against a tenacious and experienced South Korean, Choi Ki Soo, who was seven years his senior, Gurcharan played a very careful wait-and-watch game. He went for points by trying to entice the shorter Korean to open up his guard, by letting his own guard down. Very diligently, he built up a narrow lead, which he carried through.

Beating a Korean is a psychological plus for any Indian boxer, for seldom have Indians done well against the Koreans. Gurcharan won the bout closely at 11-9. In the pre-quarter final, he demolished Danie Venter of South Africa, an all Africa Games bronze medallist.

He was way ahead on points after three rounds and finally the referee had to come to the rescue of Venter and stop the fight when Gurcharan's left to the South African's head had him on a count for the third time.

Having participated in more than two dozen internationals since 1995, he made his debut with a gold in Asian juniors in Taiwan. In the two dozen competitions he has fought, he has no less than 11 gold medals, some of course have been in smaller meets.

But some have been in impressive company like the Mayors' Cup in the Philippines in 1996 and the Guama Cup in Cuba in 1998. In the latter meet he was adjudged the best boxer.

On his numerous international trips to Cuba he has impressed the coaches, there too. They feel he is "hungry" and that is important for a boxer. However he went through a bad patch in 1998 when he was injured in the World Army Games in the US.

He suffered a nasal injury for which he underwent surgery. After that he was unable to strike a medal at Commonwealth Games, where his colleague Jitender won a silver. Then at the Asian Games in Bangkok he managed only a bronze.

But after that in 1999 and 2000, he has been in terrific form. He has won gold medals in three events in Cuba, including retaining his Eduardo Garcia title, in 1999 and then won the SAF Games in Kathmandu in the same year and this year took the gold at the Olympic qualifiers. A medal here at Sydney Olympic Games will be a just reward for a boxer who has done so well and has so much potential.

Fedtchouk, his opponent here in Sydney, is relatively inexperienced. At 20, he has just come into the 81-kg category. Like Gurcharan he lost in the quarter-finals at the World Championships in Houston, but he reached the stage in the 75-kg, while the Indian was in the 81-kg.

Two years ago, Fedtchouk was a bronze medallist at the World juniors in Argentina. In addition this is his first Olympics, while Gurcharan is boxing at his second Olympic Games.

Everything points in Gurcharan's favor, but all said and done, as the boxing dictum goes, "The best man will win".