Vikas Krishan, who has qualified for the London Olympics in the (69kg) category, talks to Gaurav Jha of Indian Sports News about his chances in the biggest sporting event, the expectations that is building around the boxing team and much more. EXCERPTS:


ISN: How has the feeling of qualifying for the London Olympics been like?
Vikas: It feels great. I achieved the feat when I was 18-and-half-years-old and what better can a young boxer could have hoped for. It is a great feeling that I will be daunting India’s colors in London and I will look to give it my best shot. I will try whatever it takes to make my country proud.

ISN: Tell us about this relationship between boxing and Haryana?
Vikas: Yeah I know where this question is coming from. Actually the thing is that Haryana has produced a lot of good boxers and as a result we youngsters have got a lot of role models that we can follow. Even before Vijender Singh’s heroics at Beijing, we had some great boxers from Haryana who we followed.

ISN: You have always said that Vijender Singh is your ideal. Do you guys have a similar style?
Vikas: Actually no. It is true that I like Vijender Singh a lot but we are not similar at all. He plays attacking boxing and my game is based on the defence. I play a defensive sort of game and wait for my opponent to make the mistake, in that aspect our game is totally different.

ISN: You are still very young, how important is it for you to make a mark at the London Olympics?
Vikas: I know that age is on my side. I still have two to three Olympics at my sight but that won’t affect my game in London. I am going there to win a medal for my country and that will be the only thing in my mind when I will board the plane for London. I will give it my best shot and I know that this experience will do my confidence a world of good.

ISN: There is still four months to go for the biggest event. What are you concentrating on right now?
Vikas: I am working on my defence. I have to make it stronger. I am also working on my speed as I will look to maintain good speed throughout the match. Apart from that fitness is the one thing that I always work on.

ISN: In Beijing we got one medal from our boxers. What can we expect from the boxing team this time around?
Vikas: This time you can expect at least two medals from us. I am more confident on Manoj Kumar winning the medal than me. He is a tremendous boxer and will be a force in London.