We are just seven days away from the Birmingham edition of the Commonwealth games and team India has been sweating it out in the practice sessions of different disciplines to give themselves the best chance possible to finish on top of the medal tally. The Indian contingency has its hopes pinned on athletes like Neeraj Chopra, PV Sindhu, Nikhat Zareen, Hima Das, and many others. Various reports have emerged that India's boxer Rohit Tokas has now regained full fitness and is now raring to go and looks all set to give his best performance in the multi-nation event.
When injuries robbed boxer Rohit Tokas of a chance to compete at the World Championship and the Tokyo Olympics, he was devastated but the eternal optimist wasn't bogged down. The 28-year-old, who is set to make his CWG debut in the men’s 67kg, category, was pegged back by back-to-back injuries in 2018-2019.
"I suffered a ligament injury in 2018, which led to me missing out on the World Championships. Then I injured my ligament again in 2019. I had ligament injuries in both my knees. The left one during the India Open and then the right during the nationals. My target was the Olympics and I had defeated all the top boxers here. I was confident I could do well in the qualifiers and make it to the Olympics but then I got injured. It was very disheartening. My injury was so severe that I was told by the doctor that if you play, your entire knee can get damaged. I felt that I had to be okay physically first to play. If I risked it, there was a chance I would never be able to box again", said Tokas while addressing the issues related to his form and fitness.
Having defeated all the top Indian boxers in his weight category, Rohit was desperate to compete in the Olympic qualifiers but the nature of his injury was so severe that he couldn’t risk worsening his knee. It is said that life works in mysterious ways and when the world was about to be enveloped by the COVID-19 virus, Rohit underwent successful knee surgery and a couple of months later, he got married.
(Inputs from PTI)
