Ding-ko?

The bigger 8212; and sad 8212; question is: Has the 1998 Asiad gold medallist reached the end of the line? Is it time to hang up the gloves that made him a national icon, and a superstar in his native Manipur?

Knowing his age, skills, agility and, above all, mercurial character, one writes him off at one8217;s own risk. Especially when it8217;s essentially based on two bad performances: at the Commonwealth and Asian Games.

Unfortunately, there8217;s increasing evidence to suggest that Dr Alexander8217;s 8216;classified8217; report to the Indian Amateur Boxing Federation IABF and SAI is not merely the voice of doom but a realistic assessment.

Dingko returned home a hero from Bangkok, gold medal around his chest. It felt especially sweet given the circumstances under which he8217;d gone there: he wasn8217;t on the original list and had to personally request the sports minister before he was sent. The gold he won was India8217;s first at that level in 16 years and vindicated his persistence. In the four years since, Dingko has competed in just five international meets, including Manchester and Busan, with one gold and two silver to his credit. The gold came at the Kathmandu SAF Games, the silvers at an Olympic qualifier at Bangkok in April 2000 and at a 8216;training contest8217; in Cuba.

He has retained his national title three times, but the nationals cannot be taken as a real yardstick. When a person of Dingko8217;s calibre loses to an unknown boxer from Lesotho, something8217;s terribly wrong.

Those who know him well say he8217;s a moody person; the sudden, dizzying fame has made those moods even more unpredictable, more destructive. Says Col P Padmakaran, a qualified AIBA referee and judge who was until recently the coordinator with the IABF: 8216;8216;Dingko is a moody character. He would turn up at camps at his own whims and fancies and always showed reservation to train with national coach G S Sandhu and foreign coach Peter Stoychev Stoyanov. Or would cite some injury or the other as an excuse.8217;8217; The Asian gold went to his head, says Ashok Gangopadhyay, who served as secretary of IABF for two terms: 8216;8216;What he didn8217;t realise is that the moment you lose, you8217;re no longer the champion.8217;8217;

During the February nationals in New Delhi, Dingko spoke to The Indian Express, blaming the federation for not taking care of him. He also admitted the differences with the two coaches and said that he preferred training under a Cuban coach hired by the Army Institute of Sports in Pune. But AIS sources say that Dingko rarely turned up for even the Services camp at the institute.

Stories about Dingko are a dime a dozen in Pune. What lends them credibility is the nature of the city: lots of entertainment and outlets for a man in the prime of his life. And with lots of money, post-Asiad gold, to spend.

8216;8216;He was a transformed man8217;8217;, says one person who worked with him in Pune. 8216;8216;It was not a coach he needed but a psychiatrist.8217;8217;

ASI coach Col. RP Singh, however, dismisses all such talk. 8216;8216;I have seen Dingko for two years. When he Dingko was in the city he was a totally devoted boxer. Out to prove his mettle. Never missed a session, in fact even on an off day Dingko made it a point to put in that extra workout.8217;8217;

Whatever be the cause, it turned into a weight problem, potentially devastating for a boxer; this was at its height before the Manchester Games. For someone who had a chance in only the bantam class 54kg, Dingko8217;s weight went up to 60 kg. 8216;8216;Half the time he spent at the Patiala camp for the Commonwealth Games was spent concentrating on reducing his weight. Reducing six kilograms in just about a month and a half has also taken its toll on him. And the fear of recurring injury to his wrist has only added to his woes,8217;8217; says Padmakaran.

Indeed, Kunjuraman, a former physio with the Sports Medicine Centre attached to the ASI, feels that Dingko8217;s injury 8212; sustained after the Bangkok Asiad 8212; will take a long time before it is totally cured. 8216;8216;The injury could be one of the reasons behind his bad performance. I feel a ligament-tear injury needs to a lot of rest before deeming it cured,8217;8217; Kunjuraman explains.

So is this it, then, the final bell, the count to ten? Raj Kumar Sanghwan, ranked No. 4 in the world in 1994 before turning a pro a year later and now the game8217;s government observer, says that Dingko should gracefully quit. 8216;8216;Whatever little I saw of his bout against North Korean Phyong Chol Choe, I think he has lost the spark he had four years ago. When a boxer takes a punch on his nose, there8217;s something drastically wrong with his defence,8217;8217; says Sangwan.

So why did the selectors choose him, knowing that his form was waning? The media, says Sanghwan. 8216;8216;Left to us, we would have dropped him after his Commonwealth Games showing. But we fear the media backlash.8217;8217;

Padmakaran, though, doesn8217;t write him off yet. 8216;8216;All said and done, age is on his side and he has great skills. He is like a man possessed and can always come back. What is needed is some kind of counselling that would change his attitude. That, though, is easier said than done.8217;8217;

8216;8216;I still believe Dingko is the best boxer in India in the bantam-weight category,8217;8217; says the ASI8217;s R P Singh. His current dismal form, he says, is just that: 8216;8216;every boxer at that level Commonwealth, Asiad is good. Every round is a gold medal bout.8217;8217;

Dingko Singh may yet have his toughest fight ahead of him. Can he take it to the limit one more time?

With Joe Williams and Micky Aigner in Pune