Boxing in his blood, Abhimanyu Loura takes robust highway to clinch gold at first senior nationals

Eighteen-year-old Abhimanyu Loura has been surrounded by boxing whereas rising up. He appears as much as his father, a world boxer-turned-businessman from Hisar. His aunt is a World Championship bronze medallist. It was by no means a matter of if, however when, he would choose up the game and proceed his household’s custom within the ring.

And in his first try on the senior nationals, Abhimanyu gained the gold medal within the 80kg class in his hometown of Hisar – defeating Chandigarh’s Sahil by a rating of 4-1 on the judges’ scorecard. He did so in an Olympic weight class, defeating Ashish Kumar on his approach to the title. Kumar was one among India’s boxers on the Tokyo Olympics, competing within the 75kg middleweight division, and is trying to step up because the middleweight class is just not part of the Paris 2024 programme.

“Our house had gloves lying around in every corner. I boxed for 14-15 years and my sister Chhotu Loura was already a bronze medallist at the world level. In other people’s houses, you will find children playing with balls but in our house, they would play with gloves. In my time, we used to have gloves with laces. In some parts of the house, you’d find the lace and in some parts, the padding of the gloves. Abhimanyu grew up in such an environment,” says his father Bhagat Singh.

Abhimanyu Loura (blue) in motion. (BFI)

Around the age of 12 although, Singh noticed his son beating up youngsters within the park close to their home. He later discovered that it didn’t matter whether or not they have been huge or small, his son was commonly preventing with different youngsters. In order to instill some self-discipline, Singh would ship Abhimanyu to Mahender Singh Dhaka, a long-time coach within the junior India set-up. The thought was to channelise his son’s vitality within the course of their household custom.

Five years later, Abhimanyu was a part of India’s squad for the Asian Youth Boxing championships in 2021, successful a bronze medal that might have been became a better medal. But a freak lower meant that the younger boxer must accept the third step on the rostrum in his first main worldwide outing.

Beating the very best

At these nationals, not many anticipated Abhimanyu to do effectively. But successful gold implies that he can now be part of the nationwide camp and be in line to be chosen for the Asian Games – the primary qualification competitors for the 2024 Paris Olympics. Standing in his means at these nationals was an Olympian himself.

When Abhimanyu discovered he was set to face Kumar, he known as his father and mentioned, “I have nothing to lose. If I lose, I will lose to an Olympian.”

At 6’3, Abhimanyu enjoys a top benefit over most in his weight class nationally. The battle towards Kumar was no totally different. His father and he had determined to remain exterior the attain of the Olympian and start mixtures with a left hook, leaving the correct for a counter on the finish of exchanges.

His long-time coach Dhaka had related recommendation. He advised Abhimanyu to assault from the second the referee yelled ‘box’ and to guarantee that the primary assault was his. Being on the receiving finish would put Kumar underneath strain.

Abhimanyu Loura (blue) in motion. (BFI)

The technique labored and the hardest bout on his approach to the gold medal went Abhimanyu’s means. But the win got here with its worries too. “He was afraid of getting hit in the semi-final and final. He had taken a blow on his chin and it had swollen up. He was looking to fight from far away and resorted to clinching if his opponent got near him. We knew if he followed this strategy, he could win on points alone,” Dhaka advised The Indian Express.

Despite this win on the nationals, there’s nonetheless work to be achieved. In the ultimate towards Sahil, the Haryana boxer’s weaknesses grew to become obvious. A scarcity of coordination between his toes and arms, particularly when the correct hand goes forward to land a punch, was there to be seen.

Dhaka has a novel means of fixing the difficulty, other than coaching throughout camps. “Once he gets punched hard a couple of times, he’ll rectify the stance himself. He hasn’t met anyone that lands a good uppercut. When that happens, he’ll know that his stance puts him in a poor position to deal with that shot and he’ll fix the issue.”