It is 4 pm, and on the sunny banks of the river Mandovi,behind the Sports Authority of Goa (SAG) complex, around 40 children andyoungsters are doing their warm-ups in preparation for the boxing class thatwill continue for the next two hours. Their coach Pravin Kumar Shirodkar, whohas been with SAG since 2003, calls the shots. The youngest of the group is 11years old and the oldest is 27.
“We train here for achievement of the Olympic medal. Toteach boxing is very easy. First we start with the basics, the on guardposition. Later we teach them how to move in the ring, footwork, and then startthe punches. First are the straight punches. After they are taught this, theyare taught defence of the punches. After they master the defence and straightpunches, hook and upper cut are taught. For two years I teach them straightpunches and basic defence,” says the coach.
Most, if not all the children and youngsters come from theunderprivileged families. The reason for this, the Coach says, is that thetraining for Boxing and Judo along with four other games is provided free ofcost by the government which is not true for Badminton and Table Tennis. “Thesechildren are provided with kits and gloves,” he informs.
That this is a star-studded group is made known when thecoach proudly says that many of his students have been participants and evenwon medals at the National level. Preeti of class 6 of the Government HighSchool in Dona Paula, won a bronze at the Sub Junior Nationals in the D4category, U-12, 38 kg. “Preeti has got talent, but she requires to bemotivated,” says the Coach. And though Sahu won a bronze at the Inter-schoolNationals in Jamalpur, the Coach says that Sahu has to bring up his weight to33 kg so he does not get disqualified next year. Youngsters Deva Naik and AmyFernandes won a Gold and Silver respectively at the West Zone Championships.
“The girls are as good as the boys, and though they practicetogether, during sparring the girls play girls,” says Shirodkar. He continuesto enlighten that though learning boxing is easy, implementing the same inactual sparring is difficult. “And while common injuries like laceration, cuts,nose bleeds and bleeding from the mouth happen, during sparring we applyVaseline or oil to the face and I do not put very strong and weak boxerstogether,” concludes Shirodkar with a wave before he calls out to the youngboxers to get ready with their bandages and gloves.
