Beijing: Abhinav Bindra may have returned home with the glory of India's first Olympic individual gold but he has left behind the inspiration for boxer Akhil Kumar to dream of a similar honour.
Bubbling with verve and optimism on the eve of his bout against 2007 World Champion Sergey Vodopyanov on Friday, Akhil said he could not see the medal which Abhinav shot but was waiting to have one dangling across his own neck.
"I did not see the medal. We only met in the dinner hall where I congratulated him. Of course, it was very inspiring to see an Indian coming on top in the biggest stage in the world. At the most, I could have had a look at it, probably
touched it and then returned. But I want a gold medal that would be just mine and would stay with me," the bantamweight boxer said.
Akhil is aware that Friday's bout would not be a stroll in the park but says it coincides with the Independence Day and he would not run short on motivation.
"It's a sheer coincidence that my crucial bout coincides with India's independence day. I'm someone who's very emotional about my country and I have to rise to the occasion," he said.
Akhil insists upstaging the Russian is not just a wishful thinking on his part.
"It's quite a possibility. In other events, already a number of world champions and medallists have bitten the dust. I just want to continue with the trend," said the boxer from Haryana.
Akhil enjoys his role as a senior boxer who often has to help out juniors and the pugilist says he has no problem with that.
"Being the senior most member it's only natural that you would help the juniors. Jitender specially is very fond of me and in fact both of us have a similar style. To be honest, I'm banking more on him to win a medal. He's young, faster and even stronger than me. The only thing he lacks is experience. Otherwise, he would have been a sure shot for a medal here," Akhil said.
On his prospect, Akhil said, "I've set the goal high for myself and thinking only about gold, nothing less. Representing the country in Olympics is a dream and I want a fairytale end to it."
"Abhinav has just showed us the way and I want to follow in his footsteps," he added.
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