New Delhi, June 16: With three gold medals in three international meets this year, Suranjoy Singh is tipped to be the next big thing in Indian boxing. This, though, comes a few years after the Indian Boxing Federation’s selection committee had told him that he was not good enough.
The 22-year-old Manipuri boxer’s story seems to be the quintessential prodigy-showing-early-promise-before-losing-his-way one. But for once, it doesn’t end there.
A bronze medallist at the world junior championship in 2004, Suranjoy didn’t have a smooth transition from the junior to the senior level. Struggling to cope with the increasing demands of the sport, he failed to meet the expectations. A first-round loss at the 2007 national championship in the Capital, and he was off the selectors’ radar.
“I became so miserable when I was told that I was not good enough. That was very hard to deal with,” says Suranjoy, back from the Asian Boxing Championship in Zuhai, China. “Basically, I was finding it hard to compete at that level all of a sudden.”
Concurs national coach Gurbax Singh Sandhu: “He had tremendous potential but lost his focus when he graduated to the senior level. Slowly, he was no longer being considered for national camps and Indian contingents participating in tournaments abroad. The committee, in fact, told him not to waste his time as well as theirs.
“Sometime last year, he came to me and asked for a second chance. He promised he wouldn’t let me down, and I am glad to say he hasn’t.”
Source: Indian Express
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