Between the last men's boxing World Championships in Doha two years ago and the one about to hold the ring in Hamburg on Friday, a lot has transpired in Indian boxing.
With a bronze medal each to show for the 2009, 2011 and 2015 editions, and two of the former medallists - Vikas Krishan and Shiva Thapa - featuring in this year's squad as well, medal hopes have risen.
Why the World Championships matter?
Alongside the Olympic Games, the biennial event is the highest level of competition for the sport. The men's and women's Championships -- for which boxers qualify through Continental Championships -- are held separately in alternating years. This year, of the 243 competing boxers, 18 had finished with medals at the Rio Games.
While India's Mary Kom has won five women's world titles, no male boxer from the country has made the final yet.
New order, biggest-ever contingent
Following fresh elections in September last year and a new body taking charge of the administration of the sport in the country, which was caught in turmoil since 2012, things have begun to look up. At the start of this year, Boxing Federation of India (BFI) named two head coaches and brought in foreign coach Santiago Nieva of Sweden to fill the spot left empty by Cuban BI Fernandes, apart from resurrecting national camps and exposure trips.
At the Asian Championships in May, India finished with two silver and two bronze medals, and followed it up with five gold, two silver and one bronze medal in the fortnight-long training-cum-competition event in Czech Republic in July. This time India will be fielding an eight-member team, its highest-ever representation at the event. "The idea has been to offer our boxers as many opportunities for exposure and competition as possible, which was denied to them for the past few years, ahead of the World Championships. We're hopeful of results. I might sound ambitious when I say this, but two medals is what we could be looking at," says BFI secretary Jay Kowli.
Seasoned quartet on medal hunt
Of the eight Indian names, four - Vikas, Shiva, Sumit Sangwan and Manoj Kumar - have Olympic appearances, apart from World Championships, Asian and Commonwealth Games medals to their names. On a comeback trail following a spate of injuries and three thumb surgeries, 24-year-old Sumit, who moved up a division from light heavyweight last year to minimise injuries, finished with a silver medal at the Asian Championships.
In the lightweight category, two-time Olympian Shiva, who lost 1-2 to Uzbekistan's Murodjon Akhmadaliev in the 2015 semifinals to settle for bronze, has been singled out for praise in the run-up to world event by Olympic bronze medalist Vijender Singh: "Shiva has progressed tremendously and seems to be a sorted boxer. I'm impressed by his growth." With the likes of Cuba's Lazaro Alvarez, who finished with gold at the last three World Championships, Olympic silver medalist Sofiane Oumiha, Ukraine's Iurii Shestak and England's Calum French in the lightweight fray among others, the competition promises to be stiff but an Indian podium finish cannot be wholly ruled out.
While up against some of the best middleweights in the world, including Rio Olympic champion Arlen Lopez, Hungary's double Olympic champion Zoltan Harcsa and Uzbek Israil Madrimov is Vikas, who was let off with a warning for forfeiting his Asian Championships semifinal bout. "It's a mature bunch of Indian boxers at the Worlds," Vijender goes on to add, "and we have a real chance of more than one medal."
Lesser-known surprise packages
National champion and Asian Games bronze medallist Amit Panghal (light flyweight) and Kavinder Singh Bisht (flyweight), who qualified after getting a walkover in his box-off at the Asian Championships, will be eager to make a mark on the big stage. "Both are promising talents," says Melbourne Commonwealth Games gold medalist Akhil Kumar, "and this is a great opportunity for them to get noticed." Agreeing with Akhil, former World Cup bronze medalist V Devarajan adds that lesser-known names could well spring a surprise. "This is going to be a learning curve for them and I feel more than the bigger Indian names, whose styles are already well-known to their opponents, Amit and Kavinder could take us by surprise."