CHANDIGARH: Former SD College student
Manish Kaushik, who won a bronze medal at the
World Boxing Championship
in Yekaterinburg, Russia on Friday, justified talent that was first spotted at the Sector 42 Sports Complex here when his booming right jab had left his sparring partner unconscious.
Conscious of the expectations from him, Kaushik has lived up to the billing many a time - a win in the inter-college championship in Chandigarh in 2013, gold at the all-India inter-university championship in
Banaras Hindu University the same year and a silver in the last year's Commonwealth Games. And now, after his biggest feat. Kaushik reckons he could have done even better.
"I committed a few mistakes and I have to work on them. I am happy with my overall performance in my first World Championship. I will have to work on my limitations and keep working hard," Kaushik told TOI from Yekaterinburg after losing his bout to Andy Cruz of Cuba.
The 25-year-old, who hails from Devsar village, about 5km from the cradle of Indian
boxing
- Bhiwani - has honed his talent under Bhagwant Singh, who only has words of praise for his ward.
"When I saw him, I immediately realised that he was special. No matter what, he never skipped training since he joined me in 2013 for a year," said Bhagwant Singh, a coach with the UT sports department.
"Generally, all boxers attend training sessions in mornings and evenings, but Kaushik used to come in the afternoons too. I have trained many boxers but he was special," he said.
What impresses him most about Kaushik? "He is a technical boxer and fights with intensity. But one of the amazing things about his game is counter-attack. He can just defend, defend and wait patiently, and once his opponent drains out, he will start throwing punches. Then there is no escape."