'Technique change did wonders'

“Four Indian boxers, including Vijender Singh (2008 Games bronze medal winner) and Akhil Kumar were eliminated in the first round itself at the Athens Olympics after which we changed their technique to lay emphasis on straight punches,” said Raja.

According to Raja, who was a panel speaker at a symposium on boxing in the India International Sports Summit organised by TransStadia here on Saturday, the re-thinking on the strategy to rely only on jabs occurred after seeing the boxers’ dismal show at the
Athens where he was a ring-side judge. “Myself and coaches GS Sandhu and BI Fernandez got together on the fifth and sixth day of boxing at the Games, watched the scoring patterns and realised that only straight punches earned points,’’ Raja said.

“We came back and called all the national level coaches to Patiala and decided to penalise boxers at the next national camp if they employed the upper cuts and hooks. We caught on to the scoring system early and benefited,” explained Raja.