Vikas’ pro plans on hold after WC setback
His World Championship campaign ending in disappointment, Indian boxer Vikas Krishan has decided to put his plans of turning professional on hold and focus on recuperating from a hand injury that he claims, resurfaced during the event.
The 2011 bronze-medallist at the marquee tournament, Vikas, bowed out of the second round this time, losing to England's Benjamin Whittaker in a unanimous verdict.
"I was thinking of turning professional by the end of this year but that plan is on hold for now. A right hand injury which had troubled me some years back, seems to have flared up again. I need to get it sorted immediately once I reach home," Vikas, a middleweight 75kg boxer, told PTI.
The injury he was referring to relates to the metacarpus, the intermediate part of the hand located between the wrist and the fingers.
"I do eventually want to turn professional but for now I will focus on the Commonwealth Games next year and take things from there," he added.
Vikas was among the best medal hopes for India. He was the highest seed among the Indians at third when the draws came out and was expected to do a lot better than the secondround finish he managed.
The former Asian Games gold-medallist was disappointed with how things panned out but has vowed to come back stronger. "Which athlete does not hurt from a loss? I am also disappointed," he said.
"But there was nothing lacking in my training. I had worked on myself quite hard in Pune's Army Sports Institute before the Championship. But after this loss I realise, I have to work harder on my weight and raise it for greater strength," he said.
The build-up to the Championship was not the most ideal for the 25-year-old, who had found himself at the centre of a disciplinary row after forfeiting his Asian Championships semifinal earlier this year in Tashkent. Vikas had maintained that he gave the walkover due to a confusion over his travel plans ahead of a World Series of Boxing bout he was scheduled to fight but was eventually stopped by the Boxing Federation of India (BFI).
The BFI, after a more than a month of hearings by its disciplinary committee, decided not to penalise him beyond a warning. Vikas, however, maintained that he was never at fault in the entire fiasco.
"I still maintain that I did nothing wrong. There was no malicious intent on my part," he said. Vikas had also raised quite a few eyebrows after he left the national camp in Patiala to train in Pune. He also did not travel with the team for a training-cum-competition trip to Europe before the world
championship. "I took due permission to leave Patiala for Pune. I felt, Pune's Army Sports Institute was a better facility to train. As for the trip to Europe, I have the experience of such exercises so I thought I should just to stick to one place and practice there," he reasoned. As for his now postponed plans of turning professional, Vikas said he was keen to compete in the league that the BFI is planning by the end of this year.