Pugilists pore over new scoring manuals

For the past two weeks,Asian boxing champion Suranjoy Singh and Nanao Singh have been busy reading and collecting all data available about AIBAs new scoring system.

Back from the recent Cuba tour for the Giraldo Cordova Cardin Memorial tournament,the Manipur duo is among the few Indian boxers to actually experience the new system in competition and are busy making necessary adjustments to their playing style ahead of the Asian Boxing Championship in August and the World Boxing Championship in Baku in September,which will also be the qualifiers for Olympics.

It is a bit tough for us. We landed in Cuba and most of us had no idea about the new system. Most of the boxers we faced were from South American and European nations and they had already played some tournaments under the new system. It took us a couple of bouts to understand the system and we were initially surprised by the high scores, said former world junior champion Nanao,who lost 22-57 to Kazakhstans Anvar Muzaparov. With 48 out of a total of 82 bouts seeing more than 20 points being scored by the winner,the new system has the boxers landing more punches. Nanaos bout against Anvar had the highest scores for the tournament and he wants Indian boxers to adjust quickly.

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In this format,the boxer who starts aggressively has an advantage. We just cannot do with the shell guard and one also gets penalised for using it. The trick is all about landing punches and to keep attacking. We had a lengthy discussion with three-time Olympic champion Felix Savon and he also stressed on this aspect, says Singh.

For Asian Games silver medalist Manpreet Singh,the new format posed a challenge. Back home,he is spending his time downloading and discussing various coaching and scoring manuals. The game has totally changed. Now we have shortened the distance with the punching bag and are getting adjusted mentally to the new format. We have been playing bouts of 30 minutes each and it has been helpful. We still have a couple of months before the Asian Championships and hope to adjust completely, he said.