The Navhind Times Goa News
At the recently held 1st India Open Boxing Tournament in Delhi, many expected Gaurav Bidhuri, the lone Bronze medalist at the World Championships held in Germany 2017, to impress. A back injury forced him to stay out of the ring. Danuska Da Gama profiles the boxer
The fourth Indian boxer to have won a medal at the World Boxing Championship, the second Indian boxer to have won a medal at the debut World Boxing Championship and the only wild card boxer in world to have won a medal at the World Boxing Championship – these records are of great importance for Gaurav, especially after a twelve-year long wait to win a medal at a major boxing tournament. Speaking about the jinxed period ending he says: “I wasn’t winning medals internationally for so many years. Even at Asian Championship, and other events I would lose in the quarter finals. People would criticise me for being jinxed.
Gaurav tells us that though these talks and his losing matches would affect him mentally, he kept some hope alive and continued with the sport. The hopefulness in him was fed by his father, Dharmender. He would find it extremely tough to advance to the semi finals and thus would always see himself lose in the quarter finals; this became the regular story for Gaurav. His coaches and father spoke to him at length, enough to boost his morale after which not only did he win the bout and get an assured silver medal, but says that he broke the quarter final barrier that proved to be an obstacle in his over a decade career in boxing.
Since winning the medal at the World Championship he has high hopes; however, his constant worry of injuries has yet to be overcome. “Injuries have been persistent for a very long time and there were many times when I had to rest and skip practices.” says Gaurav .
Gaurav says that the biggest sacrifice is staying away from family for months together. “Despite being just six hours away from Delhi, I wouldn’t be able to go home for functions, so much so that I was just like a guest at my own sister’s wedding,” he recalls before adding that because of weight issues, eating out and partying with friends are what he misses a lot.
