Vijender has made the boxing ring his kingdom. No one can dare to enter his arena,
The guard on duty at the Talkatora Stadium, the venue of the fifth Commonwealth Boxing Championship, aptly summed up Vijender Singh's performance yesterday. "Vijender has made the boxing ring his kingdom. No one can dare to enter his arena," he said after the World No 1 boxer punched his way to the final of the 75 kg category beating Tanzanian Selemani Kidundain in the semi-finals of the 5th Commonwealth Boxing Championships yesterday.
Olympic and World Championship bronze-medallist Vijender led his opponent by a whopping 10-1 margin before landing a power-packed right hand leaving the Tanzanian with a head injury and prompting the referee to award the bout to the Indian.
The crowd at the Talkatora was sparse but good enough to reverberate the arena with loud cheers. It's no wonder then that the Indian pugilist wants more people to cheer for the sport. "The entry to the venue should be free for everyone. I want more and more people to come and watch boxing. It's good when we see people cheering for us. That motivates us to do better. I try my level best not to let the people down," Vijender said after his bout.
Such was Vijender's dominance at the outset that he made the Tanzanian boxer look like a child. In fact, that was his plan, as he later revealed. "My strategy was to take an early lead and when I saw the Tanzanian taking a back step I came at him all out," said the World No 1 boxer who is now all set to clinch the title. "Now my entire focus is on Wednesday's final." Vijender was one of four Indians, who made it to the finals yesterday. Asian champion Suranjoy Singh (52 kg), World Cup bronze-medallist Dinesh Kumar (81kg) and Parmjeet Samota (91 kg) were the other three.
