Mumbai: Young boxer Laishram Devendro Singh was so dejected after his quarter-final loss to eventual bronze medal winner Paddy Barnes in the London Olympic Games that he refused to speak to anyone for the next six days.
“I didn’t know how I lost. Just couldn’t speak to others for the next six days. I had done a lot of hard work and trained for so many years,” said the young boxer from Manipur, who is employed with the Army Sports Institute in Pune, on Wednesday.
The Indian boxer lost the light-fly weight bout to his Irish rival 18-23 on August 9 after having shocked 2008 Beijing Games silver medallist Serdamba Purevdorj, the fourth seeded Mongolian, 16-11 in the pre-quarters.
The talented boxer, who was felicitated here by the Olympic Gold Quest co-founded by sports greats Prakash Padukone and Geet Sethi, conceded he had committed a few fouls that cost him some valuable points.
“Maybe, I committed some fouls, a couple of them, here and there. But that shouldn’t have cost me the bout. The scoring was a problem,” he said, but added he had put the defeat behind him now.
“Each time I entered the ring, I competed to win the gold medal. Now I have put the disappointment behind me and will start my training in the next 10 days for the Nationals to be held next month,” he said.
Looking further ahead, Devendro – who caught the eye in London with his quickfire punching – said he was aiming for the next Olympic Games at Rio de Janeiro four years from now though there were other big events like the Commonwealth Games and Asian Games in between.
“I am looking at Rio but prior to that there are other tournaments like the Commonwealth Games and the Asian Games as well as the World Championships in which I want to perform well,” he said adding he would fight in the same weight class in the near future. (PTI)
