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Kavinder Bisht pens an impressive win over Russia’s Saliev Rasul in WSB

Kavinder Bisht beat Russia's second-ranked flyweight Saliev Rasul, a performance which led Indian Tigers to a 3-2 win over Russia's Patriots Boxing.

Kavinder Bisht is positioned for bigger things.

At the world championships last August, Kavinder Bisht upset Algeria’s two-time medallist Mohamed Flissi. Earlier this year, he was the only victor in a 4-1 drubbing to Astana Arlans in the World Series of Boxing, defeating top Kazakh Akniet Baltabayev. On Saturday, he beat Russia’s second-ranked flyweight Saliev Rasul, a performance which led Indian Tigers to a 3-2 win over Russia’s Patriots Boxing, the hosts’ first victory in the event. Surely, such performances in a short span indicate the 23-year-old is positioned for bigger things? Not if you ask his mother.

“She wants me to stop,” Bisht grins. “Her point is, ‘you have become a boxer. You’ve got a job (with the Air Force) through this. Now stop boxing.’ Even after such results, I am still trying to convince her that this is something I enjoy. Most people from our region take up a sport and give up when they get a job.” Hailing from Bungbung village in Uttarakhand’s Pithoragarh district — “It’s almost in the wilderness. There’s no electricity. And there is no road. If you want to drive up to my place, you might as well say goodbye to your car” — Bisht was content channeling all his adrenaline playing as a winger for his school football team. That was, until, the physical education teacher brought a pair of boxing gloves one day.

“I felt a tingle, seeing those gloves. I tried them on, and threw some punches. I don’t know what he saw, but he recommended me to a boxing coach.” There have been many who have pulled the charade of going out to “study” and practice their sport instead, in order to escape their parents’ wrath. Bisht did one better. “I would go out to play football, but secretly practice boxing.”

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A state-level gold couldn’t clinch the deal either. Bisht had to win another for his parents to accept his choice. “They were okay with me playing football, because they thought it’s just a game. With boxing, they assumed I’d be beating people or getting beaten up. People assume it’s a very violent sport. They aren’t completely wrong, though,” Bisht says, pointing to a forehead punctuated by scars. “I got cut over both eyes at the world championships. And like a fool I tried to hide these. I was trying to hide my injuries when people were showing my mother the videos. She gets sad but she knows that I am good too.”

On Saturday, Bisht started out slow, baiting his opponent to throw flurries and risking a lost round or two on account of inactivity. However, he came alive in the third, sticking and moving while Rasul tried to bob his way in. In the end, Bisht outscored the Russian on both volume and accuracy of the punches to get the win at the National Boxing Academy in Rohtak.

Festive offer

“Five rounds is an exciting challenge. You need to change your game plan, and pace yourself. These two WSB wins will give me confidence in the amateur fold.” Bisht realises the importance of his performance, and the urgency with which he has to repeat such performances, if he is to get the nod for the Asian Games 52kg berth over favourite and Commonwealth Games gold medallist Gaurav Solanki. “Jo ho gaya uska kya sochna. There’s some disappointment, of course. But more than that, there’s a motivation to not miss another major event. I am fully prepared for the Asian Games,” Bisht asserts.

Thapa wins

Another one working on the Asiad pitch, Shiva Thapa, put in a less assuring performance but got the win via split verdict over Shamil Askerov in the 60kg contest. The increasingly-tired Thapa looked sloppy in the latter rounds but prevailed thanks to his experience and superior ring-craft. “Psychologically, you may convince yourself that you’re prepared for five rounds but it’s tough. The body is used to three rounds of action so yeah, it was a little tough. But I stifled his game plan because I had to clinch and stop him whenever he was closing in with his head down. Then he tried to score big but missed in the last round,” said Thapa. In the 91kg, Narender defeated Sergei Egorov to round up the win, after Duryodhan Negi and Brijesh Yadav lost as Russians evened the score 2-2. On Sunday, the Indian outfit will take on China Dragons.

First uploaded on: 22-04-2018 at 03:21 IST
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