When Rahul turned a boxer

The veteran coach said Gandhi had learnt the techniques of boxing from him for two months last year with the objective of keeping himself physically and psychologically fit for a busy political life.

“It was a great opportunity for me to train Rahul Gandhi...,” said Bharadwaj.
“In the beginning, I was surprised as to why he wanted to learn boxing, because I was sure that he was not going to box in the ring. But later I realised that he was keen to have some knowledge about the art of self defence,” he added.

The 70-year-old coach-cum-commentator said Rahul had great interest in sports, and that he was also a good shooter, swimmer and horse-rider.

The former boxer rated Rahul as a great learner, who is physically very fit.

“...He was too good and had prior knowledge of a few boxing techniques....I found him physically quite fit. For instance, knowing his busy schedule I kept for him light training, and for the warm-up would ask him to run around his residence ground once. But he would ask me if the drill was enough and run two more rounds,” Bharadwaj said.

Bharadwaj also recalled Priyanka Vadra had also tried her hand at boxing during one of the practice sessions.