– By Gurbaksh Singh Sandhu
In the age of the previous scoring system, there was hardly an Indian boxer who went for the kill from the very first spherical. Dingko Singh was one such boxer and his sharp foot velocity in addition to exact punches helped him defeat any boxer of his day. When I first heard the information of Dingko’s loss of life, I used to be questioning how he had been dodging most cancers for the previous 4 years and we hoped that he would beat this enemy combat, like having performed all 5 rounds of boxing. .
There are some boxers who stay calm regardless of being aggressive however Dingko was a boxer who displayed each anger and aggression brazenly. Numerous occasions, I and international coach BI Fernandez needed to spend time with him, turning his anger into the correct of aggression. Don’t know if that anger got here from being an orphan, however no matter life threw at Dingko, he fought like a champion even in his final years.
When Dingko gained the very best boxer award on the King’s Cup in Thailand in 1997, we sat down with him and labored his left punches along with aiming for a left hook blended with a proper hook. And he would solely inform us that ‘Sir, I’ll do this and I’ll defeat him (the opponent).’ He confirmed no concern in his eyes and the one time I noticed him devastated was when his title was dropped for no matter cause by the IOA and the Sports Ministry a day earlier than the departure of the Indian contingent for the 1998 Asian Games.
When his resolution to go away was introduced the day earlier than departure, Dingko drank quite a bit and was shocked to listen to that since he had all the time been a disciplined boxer. But the rejection harm him to such an extent that he moved in direction of the railway observe, about one and a half km from NIS, Patiala, to aim suicide.
Some NIS officers and boxers noticed him. As traditional, I had gone to a gurdwara close to Patiala earlier than the staff left. I requested them to convey Dingko to a room with two of my apprentices. On my approach again, I spoke to Mr. Ashok Kumar Mattoo and informed him that this boy has to go and he has the aggression and expertise to win a medal in Bangkok. We spent the entire evening with Dingko and it was an enormous aid when he was included the subsequent day.
Dingko was so irritated with life and the choice that we as coach had been involved about him. When his title was included after the intervention of the authorities, it in all probability satisfied him to show his level in Bangkok. We studied the opponents and once we informed Dingko concerning the opponent’s fashion, he would simply inform us ‘Sahib, fundamental karega’. Perhaps it got here from his military coaching or days spent in an orphanage, which helped him learn to face the world.
I might see the enjoyment in his eyes when he knocked out Uzbek boxer Timur Tulyakov within the fourth spherical within the ultimate. He used to deal with me and Fernandez as sahab and shouted, “Sahab, main bola tha kar diya,” within the damaged Hindi sentences he knew on the time. Later that yr, he suffered a wrist damage. Even although he had an operation, it induced him some bother. At the Sydney Olympics, he misplaced to eventual bronze medalist Serhi Danilchenko and had the potential to win an Olympic medal.
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Once retired, he would play for and later coach the Indian Navy staff and was primarily based at INS Hamla at Malad, Mumbai. We usually met him with the companies staff throughout nationals and he used to inform his trainees about us. Whenever an Indian Navy boxer got here to the nationwide camp, Dingko would ship his greatest needs to us and it was a pleasure to see him working as a coach.
Many individuals confer with the dingko as an aggressive individual or as being impolite to coaches. But I imagine that the lion wouldn’t have lived in a cage. As coaches, we realized tips on how to handle Dingko. The solely factor that bothered him was the coach used to inform him issues for hours and he would simply nod. But he additionally knew that we had been pondering for his personal good. He was one of many lions of Indian boxing and is among the greatest bantamweight boxers within the nation.
Gurbaksh Singh Sandhu, former head coach of Indian boxing for over 26 years from 1990, talks to Nitin Sharma.
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With inputs from TheIndianEXPRESS
