Devendro Singh is just 19. Last month the young Army boxer saw-off experienced opponents like fellow-Armyman Nanao Singh to clinch a spot on the Indian team for the AIBA World Boxing Championships, the first qualifying event for next summer's London Olympics.
Today he justified that performance and the faith of the selectors, booking a spot in the last eight of the competition, and a ticket to London. The light flyweight (49kg) boxer beat seventh-seed Carlos Quipo of Ecuador 18-12 in the round of 16 to make it to the last eight and secure Olympic qualification. The top 10 boxers in each weight at the Worlds will qualify for the London Games.
Devendro was making his debut at the senior international level at these Championships in Baku, Azerbaijan and was particularly emphatic in the previous round with a massive 40-19 win over Joselito Velazquez of Mexico.
The Indian team management said they expected two or three boxers to make the grade for London at this event, but the favourites were the more experienced boxers in the squad--the likes of 2008 Olympic bronze medallist Vijender Singh, light heavy Dinesh Kumar and Navyman Suranjoy Singh. That Devendro would be among the best performers on his first outing at the senior level, will undoubtedly make his coaches happy.
Manoj Kumar joined Devendro in the last eight of the light welterweight (64kg) class with a hard-fought 17-15 win over China's Qing Hu, an Asian Games and World Cup silver medallist. Manoj was down 10-13 after round two, but came back superbly to take the bout. The Commonwealth Games gold medallist is now one win away from an assured World Championships bronze medal.
The attention will now shift to another 19-year-old, Vikas Krishan. Krishan is the reigning World Youth and Asain Games champion and will go up against Turkey's Onder Sipal later in the day. He had a tough previous round against Nurudzinov Mahamed of Belarus, with the judges scoring it an even 10-10 at the end of the bout. It took an individual recount to get a result and Krishan narrowly made it through, 32-31. If his run continues, he will become the third Olympic qualifier. Lightweight Commonwealth Games gold medallist Jai Bhagwan will also be in action this evening in Baku hoping to make it a very decent four qualifiers out of a possible ten for India.
Boxing has emerged as one of India's brightest medal prospects at the London Olympics. After Vijender bagged the nation's first medal in Beinjing in 2008, money has been pumped into the sport and the current quad has considerable strength in depth. Indian boxers came home with plenty of silverware at both the Commonwealth and Asian games in 2010, but the real target has always been the Olympics. Now that these young boxers are getting set for the pinnacle of amateur boxing, it is time for all the hard work to start paying off.
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