Vikas adjusts to Rio time table

Kolkata, July 25 

To ensure that his body clock adjusts smoothly to the time zone in Rio de Janeiro during the Olympics, boxer Vikas Krishan says he has been training at “unearthly hours” in the run-up to the Games.

A 2010 Asian Games gold medallist, Vikas, who will be participating in his second Olympics, wakes up in the middle of night, and on some days he is up by 4'o clock in the morning to head to the ring. 

The target is to adjust his body clock with the eight and half hours time difference with Rio de Janeiro where the middleweight boxer aspires to win a gold medal. 

“It's about getting adjusted to the time schedule there. I train at different, and sometimes unearthly hours of the day,” the 24-year-old said. “The focus is only on training now. But I make sure to sleep about 12-13 hours a day. Diet is mostly liquid,” the 2011 World Championships bronze medallist said from Patiala.

After losing in the pre-quarters of London Olympics in a controversial manner four years ago, Vikas bounced back to grab a bronze in the 2014 Asian Games. The next year, he won a silver medal at the Asian Championships in Bangkok followed by a gold at the South Asian Games.

Vikas went on to qualify for the Olympics through the final qualifiers in Baku last month. After returning from there, Vikas had stated that he was looking for a bronze medal but now he has stepped up his expectations. “I've been competing in this weight category for about four years now and have beaten many top boxers,” the current world No. 6 said.

“I've seen it all. I've gone through the grind and value the importance of hard work. Such has been my preparation that now I am confident of beating all the 27 boxers in my weight category. So I will fight for gold. Sometime to test my speed, I train with lightweight category boxers, and for power, I prefer a heavier opponent,” Vikas said.

Vikas will leave with his personal coach Jagdeep Hooda on August 30, three days after the duo of Shiva Thapa and Manoj Kumar along with the support staff to Brazil. 

A day after the sensational doping scandal of Rio-bound medal hopeful wrestler Narsingh Yadav, Vikas' coach Jagdeep Hooda said he is not leaving anything to chance. “Whatever medication we're taking is under the supervision of a SAI doctor. We all are watchful and ensuring that the boxers are not affected.” — PTI