Day after coach's death, boxer Dubey wins gold

Boxer Nikhil Dubey was preparing for his bout on Tuesday morning when he was shaken by the news of his coach Dhananjay Tiwari’s accident. Tiwari was riding his bike from Mumbai to Gandhinagar to watch his pupil’s semi-final in the 75 kg category against Sumit Kundu at the National Games.

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Dubey had lost to Kundu in the semi-finals of senior national championships last year and now was the time to exact some revenge. Tiwari wanted to be in 22-year-old Dubey’s corner on the most important day of his career, but fate had other plans.

Just hours before the bout, Dubey had his worst fears come true. The accident, which happened near Surat, claimed Tiwari’s life. Dubey had taken many hard blows in the ring, but this one thrown by life left him numb.

“I wanted to run away. I told my brother who was with me ‘let’s go.’ But he said ‘look, he wanted you to beat him and win gold here and you have to fight for that in the ring’,” said Dubey.

Dubey spoke to his coach’s wife who asked him to stay back and finish his competition. He held back his tears and defeated Kundu -- the world championships pre-quarterfinalist – for the biggest upset in boxing at the Games. On Wednesday, Dubey won the final against Malsawmitluanga of Mizoram 5-0 to win the gold medal.

The glitter of gold, however, is causing him more pain. Dubey is still cursing himself for the unfortunate incident.

“Jo mila hai, us se kahin jyada kho ke ja raha hoon yahan se (I have lost much more than what I have gained here),” said Dubey, his voice quivering. “Kash main pehle har jaata to yeh sab nahin hota. Bas yehi soch raha hoon (Wish I had lost earlier and not made it to the semi-finals).”

These are the thoughts swirling around Dubey's mind at the moment. Had he not set up a match with Kundu, Tiwary, whom he calls ‘bhaiya’, would not have excitedly picked up his bike to join him.

Dubey says Tiwary,33, loved riding his bike and had completed many long-distance road trips. He was not only a coach for Dubey but like an elder brother. Never did he charge any fee from him, or the 20-odd boxers from underprivileged backgrounds whom he trained at a gym in Mumbai’s Malad West.

“He used to tell me you do not lack in ability. He would fill me with confidence whenever I used to lose. Bhaiya would say. ‘you are a better boxer. you can beat him.”

It was ringing in Dubey’s ears when he took on Kundu – an aggressive boxer. “After I lost to him in the semi-finals in Bellary last year, bhaiya worked on my game. We had a strategy.”

Dubey did not know how he executed the plans against Kundu. He felt numb to the power of Kundu’s punches. Only a voice from within kept guiding him, ‘keep moving your feet, attack from the left, use your hook.’

"All that bhaiya had told me was going in my head. When you take punches in the ring, the brain can’t think. But I am someone who uses my brain in the middle. Yesterday, I was just going through the motion. It was a tough fight but I was not tiring out. I was not exhausted – I was not feeling anything.”

Dubey closed it out 4-1.

Two years back Dubey’s father passed away during the first wave of the pandemic and now, his coach. His elder brothers run the household while Dubey, who used to train at the SAI Training Centre, Kandivali, nurses his boxing dreams.

“Bhaiya was my senior and competed at the national level. We have trained together and when he became a coach, I joined him for the last three years.”

After his showing, Dubey is looking forward to a call to attend the national camp. But he doesn’t know how to take his boxing forward.

“I didn’t feel like competing in the final. I wanted to finish and rush back home. Ajeeb hi hua sab kuch, aab tak vishwas nahi ho raha (What happened was strange and I still can’t believe it).”

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