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Vikas Krishan Yadav has learned from the bitterest experience that he can leave nothing to chance in the Olympic ring and it is a lesson the Indian boxer will carry with him to the Rio Games.
Four years ago, the then 20-year-old welterweight thought he had clinched a place in the quarter-finals of the London Olympic tournament after beating American Errol Spence 13-11.
His joy turned quickly to outrage when amateur boxing’s governing body AIBA, after reviewing video footage, overturned the result and awarded the American four additional points for fouls committed by Yadav.
India subsequently took the case to the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS), which rejected the appeal.
Yadav has since moved up to the 75kg category, but the feeling of being wronged in London has never left him.
Shattered by the London setback, Yadav largely shunned the ring for the next 18 months, undertaking training to become a policeman in the northern Indian state of Haryana instead.
He added:
He is, however, determined to ensure he does not have to deal with a similar situation in Rio.
Yadav secured his Rio spot only last week at an Olympic qualifier in Baku, where he settled for bronze after a cut he sustained rendered him medically unfit for his semi-final bout.
For Yadav, who claimed the lightweight gold at the 2010 Asian Games and the middleweight bronze in the next edition of the continental gathering in Incheon, winning is all.
He feels embarrassed when all he has to show from one of his trips abroad is a souvenir T-shirt or a bag full of duty-free.
To avoid any such embarrassment after Rio, Yadav is approaching the Games as if they were his last as he bids to emulate Vijender Singh, who won India’s first boxing medal with a bronze, also in the 75kg class, at the 2008 Beijing Olympics.
(This copy has been edited for length.)
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