NEWS

'Only a gold will satisfy me, Akhil'

BHIWANI: For the last six days, Bhiwani, a district located in the interiors of Haryana is submerged under water due to heavy rain-fall. The water from the farms and the lake has spilled on to the road, leaving them indistinguishable from the farms and the water undrinkable.

But boxing is a dialogue between bodies, and if boxers are to succeed, then they have to speak the language of energy. Dilbag Singh, a six-times national champion has come to understand that.

On Sunday, one caught him speaking the 'language of energy' at the Bhiwani Boxing Club (BBC) even when the whole town is under water.

"I can't rest one bit. I've already wasted three years of my life. I should have been there at the Beijing Olympics fighting alongside Akhil, my best friend," says Dilbag, who has been practising five hours a day regardless of the flood, trying to make amends for his wayward ways of the past.

Jagdish Singh points Dilbag out and says that this is the reason why Akhil has succeeded and Dilbag has not. Akhil would come to the Club no matter how difficult the condition. "Dilbag is a better boxer than Akhil but Akhil went ahead because of his discipline," says the head coach of the BBC.

"Dilbag disobeyed me. He mixed with people I didn't want him to but he went ahead and did it. He improved a bit character wise when the Olympic qualifier was nearing. But he just failed to make the cut in Bangkok. He would have done it had he practised harder. Now he is suffering inside for not listening to me. I never had to tell Akhil what to do and what not to," says Singh.

For Monday's fight too, the coach proudly says that he doesn't need to tell Akhil how to win the fight. "After beating the world champion, Akhil clearly knows what to do. Laparvahi nahin karega. I'm 100 per cent sure that he will win. His opponents should be no big deal for him."

The coach who has three of his pupils participating in the quarter-finals says that Akhil and he share a kindred spirit and they don't have to talk to each other to explain each other's feelings.

"He knows I want gold from him in the Olympics. Nothing less than that will satisfy me. And nothing less than that will satisfy him. I know."

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