It’s delight after stress for Vijender Singh

It took Vijender Singh only eight minutes to wrap up his debut professional fight on Saturday against Britain’s Sonny Whiting. Vijender’s attack made Whiting who had three bouts (2-1 record) under his belt, look out of sorts as the Indian did not take long to write home his victory much before the final whistle.

The Indian admitted that there was pressure but stressed that his experience helped him sail through. “Expectation, pressure and responsibility are normal feelings before any important match. And those feelings did come to my mind. But I was focused and made a small prayer to the Almighty before step ping into the ring. I believe when you want something badly, you tend to get it,” a philosophical Vijender told TOI from Manchester on Sunday Vijender said he borrowed from the London Olympics experience. “The heartbeat was up. I was on the backstage when Sonny entered and I could hear the crowd cheering for him.

“I reminded myself of a similar situation in the Lon don quarterfinal and told myself it was OK. There were a lot of Indian supporters too who were scattered in the arena initially but as the match began they came together and supported me,” he said adding, “I am sure I have earned lot of British supporters too after this bout.”

Talking about the atmosphere in the changing room, Vijender said lots of things have changed in his life after this bout. “The whole atmosphere was so new for me -starting from the environment of the changing room to the coach and fellow boxers. Everything felt so different, be it style of warming up or size of the gloves or bandage …everything has changed for me. I am happy things went well in the ring and I could win,” Vijender said. “My focus was to win from the moment I stepped in the ring. I just wanted to attack and beat him up,” he said, adding, “Was waiting for this day for so long.”

Vijender will soon be in action again -on October 30 in Harrow. The 29-year-old believes it was his footwork and coach Lee Beard’s constant guidance from the ringside that worked to his advantage.