The 26-year-old boxer from Bosigaun, Kathmandu, who came into limelight last year as the only Nepali athlete to win a medal in the 16th Asian Games (Asiad) in Guangzhou, is apprehensive that the result of his next international outing might not come out as expected in the absence of a competent training partner. [break]
A bronze medalist at the Asiad, Maharjan is gearing up for the Asian Confederation Boxing Championship to be held in South Korea from August 3-13.
“The preparation for the upcoming championship is going on well but I don’t have a sparring partner,” said Maharjan, who has been training regularly for the past six months under the supervision of coach Raj Shrestha.
“I got an opportunity to train in Thailand ahead of the Asiad. That’s what made a difference in Guangzhou. But there is no such training this time and it’s not possible to train abroad on our personal expenses,” he said.
Boxing’s chief coach Prachanda Sharma also backed Maharjan and said the only setback he sees in the training is not having a competent enough partner for the top boxer of Nepal.
“We don’t have enough budget to send the players for training abroad,” said Sharma, and added, “The National Sports Council has been supportive but the amount it provided recently will be partly used for the trip to Korea but is not sufficient for training abroad.”
Moreover, Maharjan and another boxer Sudesh Manandhar, who has also been selected for the Asian championship, are not getting even diet allowance from Nepal Boxing Association when other sports associations have been providing allowance to their players even for minor tournaments.
Despite this grim situation, chief coach Sharma sees a silver lining. Sharma is hopeful that Maharjan will emulate the success that he achieved at the Asiad.
“Maharjan is in good form although he lost a bout in the 21st President Cup Boxing Championship held in Djakarta, Indonesia earlier this month,” Sharma said.
“He lost by a narrow margin and that too against a South Korean opponent. The result is neck-to-neck these days,” he added.
Maharjan had lost the game against a South Korean opponent 9-10 in the championship but his performance was praiseworthy, according to Sharma.
“Looking at his performance in Indonesia, we can hope for a medal in the upcoming event. It would have been better had the government provided him training abroad,” Sharma expressed his wishful thinking.
Maharjan, on his part, said that he lost the match against the Korean player because he didn’t have a competent partner even at that time and hopes that the same does not happen again.
Meanwhile, it is the first international participation for Manandhar. The fifth National Games champion missed out during the 11th South Asian Games due injuries suffered during a bike accident but is now fit to compete again.
“The two players are the best of the best and we have high hopes from them,” said Sharma.
Maharjan has also been selected for the World Championships scheduled for September this year. It is the qualifying tournament for London Olympics 2012. If the players do not qualify from the event, they still have a chance to qualify from the Asian Qualifiers which will be held in 2012.
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