The Services camp has a good mix of personalities, with each of them fighting their own personal battles in the boxing Nationals. PL Prasad is on a renaissance mission after being in danger of falling out of reckoning completely following a crippling shoulder injury. Manjeet Singh is battling for recognition, and so is heavyweight boxer Sanjeet, who stunned highly-rated Naman Tanwar in the semi-finals.
As for their other gold medallists – Arjuna Awardee Satish Kumar and Manish Kaushik – it is a case of defending their lofty reputations as overwhelming favourites in their respective weight categories.
In the midst of this star-studded locker room is Duryodhan Singh Negi, the quiet, unassuming workhorse who punched his way to gold in the Nationals.
And it came against the up-and-coming Railways boxer Dinesh Dagar, with whom he has a couple of tense bouts in the past. The animosity between them was palpable and it didn’t get better after the bout began.
“He always boxes like that. I was prepared for what he was going to throw at me,” Duryodhan told Scroll.in, unhappy about his opponent’s rough-housing tactics.
Dinesh was forced into a corner in the 69kg final as Duryodhan chose an in-fighting strategy. He got in close and attacked the body. The Services boxer has tremendous upper body strength and he made it count against Dinesh, who had hardly broken into a sweat till the summit event.
Duryodhan is a tough nut to crack. During bouts, he seldom lets his opponents breathe, and is ruthless with his hooks, jabs and a powerful uppercut.
It is almost hard to believe that that the boxer, who hails from the Pithoragarh district of Uttarakhand, only took up the sport at the ripe old age of 27.
“Since the age of 19, I have been a soldier with the army and we were often encouraged to play all kinds of sports. It was during one of these stints that I was asked to try my hand at boxing,” he said. “I didn’t want to initially – after all, I was almost 27 already but since the seniors were asking, I gave it a go.”
And now, just six years later, the 33-year-old is India’s national champion.
It was another twist in a life that had already seen plenty of twists and turns. Duryodhan, the son of a farmer, joined the Indian army to provide his family a better living.
Once he did get into boxing, he quickly learnt the ropes at the Army Sports Institute in Pune, which witnessed a deafening noise whenever he stepped into the ring. His colleagues would crowd the area cordoned off near the ring and vociferously cheer for the 33-year-old.
Services have a vastly experienced coaching stuff, led by long-serving Narendra Rana. The man dishing out instructions during a bout is Cuban Luis Enrique. Duryodhan acknowledged his equation with his coach. “I always listen to Rana sir. He knows me very well.”
All the winners in Pune have assured themselves of a place in the National camp. Having had a stint there in the past, Duryodhan is now gunning for greater glory at an age where most boxers would consider hanging up their boots.
With former Commonwealth Games winner Manoj Kumar exempt from participating in the event, coach Santiago Nieva will have a selection headache on his hands in the coming month.
For now, he is the toast of the Services outfit, that dominated the Nationals. After winning his bout against Dinesh, Duryodhan was carried away by his teammates, summing up his popularity within the camp.
Age, in this case, is clearly just a number.
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