Dingko ends 16-year gold drought

BANGKOK, DEC 17: Bantamweight boxer NG Dingko Singh answered Indian prayers after a 16-year drought in a classy manner by outboxing the f...

BANGKOK, DEC 17: Bantamweight boxer NG Dingko Singh answered Indian prayers after a 16-year drought in a classy manner by outboxing the favoured Timor Tulyakov of Uzbekistan by forcing him to retire after the fourth round of a thrilling bout at the Asian Games here today.

The 20-year-old naval junior commissioned officer capped his brilliant showing by opening out with a flurry of punches to the Uzbek world No 5’s body and face, and then cleverly kept out of harm’s way as his opponent desperately tried to connect a deadly left hook.

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The Indian boxer who clinched a two-point lead in the first round ran up a huge eight-point leeway after the second which he built to 12 by the end of the fourth round forcing the Uzbek bench to abandon the fight as they realised the futility of trying to bridge the gap.

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Timur camp’s decision to stop the fight in the penultimate round came as he had suffered a right hand injury during the well-fought round.

“This is one part of my dream fulfilled. The other is to win thegold at 2000 Sydney Olympics,” declared the diminutive Manipur-born boxer triumphantly.

Dingko Singh’s gold medal enabled India to finish with two medals from the ring after fielding four boxers. Lightheavy Gurcharan Singh was assured of a bronze medal when he made it to the last four stage.

In 1994 Hiroshima Games, India had claimed four bronze medals while they had to be satisfied with a lone bronze at Beijing in 1990.

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Dingko Singh, who let his mitts do the talking after the sports ministry decided not to clear him despite the boxing association’s pleas, became the first Indian since heavyweight Kaur Singh won the gold medal in the 1982 New Delhi Asian Games.

Dingko also became the only fourth Indian boxer to earn the distinction of winning the gold by joining the illustrious Padam Bahadur Mall, who won India’s first Games gold in the 1962 Jakarta Games, Hawa Singh — the 1966 and 1970 Bangkok winner — before Kaur Singh in 1982.

Familiar with the ambience after winning a gold medal in the 1997king’s cup competition here, Dingko adopted the same tactics as he had done in toppling favourite and local hero Wongprates in the semifinal.