Boxer Akhil Kumar looks forward to qualifying the next Olympics. He talks to Shrabasti Mallik about his straightforward attitude and his highs and lows of life
Who would have imagined that a boy passionate about acting and theatre would grow up to be one of India’s promising boxersIJ Akhil Kumar’s story is no less than a movie script — he reached the peak of his career, won the Arjuna award, was disqualified from the 2012 Olympics and then made a comeback in October last year.
But Kumar never dreamt of being a boxer. He was not “even aware of boxing”. “I had passion for acting. I took part in theatre in school and won many prizes at district and state level,” he said. As luck would have it, he got involved in boxing but lost his first match. However, a fighter in him was born and he was determined to prove his valour. “I was 13. I think boxing chose me,” he said.
He played his first match in Rohtak when he was still in school. “I lost it but I decided to improve. I put in hours of training, there were no trainers back then,” he shared. He later shifted to a boxing hostel in Gurgaon, which eventually travelled to Nehru Stadium.
In 1999, he got an opportunity to represent India at the YMCA tournament in junior level. “I still remember that moment. I wore my blazer which had ‘India’ printed on it. It was a moment of pride and courage. There was no looking back since then. That pride and confidence has taken me to where I stand today,” shared the 33-year-old sportsman.
Being a sportsman is a constant challenge and he got a major setback when he couldn’t qualify for the 2012 london Olympics due to a ligament injury. “I was unable to train so I could not lose the required amount of weight to take part in the Asian Continental Olympic tournament,” he shared. However, he did not give up. He trained day in and day out, followed a gruelling schedule and started paying a great deal of attention to nutrition and supplements.
“There is a misconception that if we starve, the excess fat will burn and we will lose weight. On the contrary whatever we eat transforms into fat. In my case, I was not much educated about health and fitness. I did not know about nutrition and supplements in details,” he said. Kumar was here to launch the Wellness range of food supplements by Oriflame. Their nutrisoup and nutrishake, he said, helped him get back in shape.
The boxer is elated to see evolution of his sport and he finds younger players better professionals and well-trained. “Training should be scientific. In our times a 10-month training course was enough to become a coach. Now coaches have precise knowledge of specific regimes that an athlete requires,” said Kumar, who is married to boxing coach Poonam Dhaniwal.
He is now healthier and looks forward to the next Olympics. His next target is “to qualify for the tournament.” Even though his profession demands him to punch the competitor, Kumar says that he is gentle in real life. “I don’t indulge in boxing outside the ring,” he quipped adding that he has come across faces which he didn’t like but he never attacked them.
“There have been times when someone’s face made me angry. I had this immense urge to punch that person in the face but I controlled myself. I vented out the aggression on the punching bag during training sessions,” he joked. He says that being straightforward is his weakness.“I cannot keep my feelings in heart. If I feel angry or bad about something, I say it without hesitation,” he said.