By Sudipto Ganguly
TOKYO – Eldric Sella went through an arduous journey to get to Tokyo, spending years visualising himself throwing punches in the Olympic boxing ring but when his Games experience finally became a reality on Monday it lasted only 67 seconds.
The referee would allow no more as he felt the 24-year-old was clearly out of his depth and awarded the fight to Cedeno.
Sella did not want to leave the ring so early after all his efforts to get there.
At the age of 18 he made the Venezuelan national boxing team but a lack of resources in the aftermath of the economic crisis in the country forced him to quit.
“There was not a day when I didn’t think of going to the Olympics, when I didn’t think about boxing,” he told Olympics.com after being granted the chance to compete in Tokyo as part of the refugee team.
“When I was mixing concrete, I was thinking how that would help me in my boxing career. When I was cutting grass, I was thinking how that will help me in my boxing career. When I was painting a house, or whatever I was doing, I always had in my mind what I wanted to do.”
There was, however, a nervous wait before he could make the trip to Japan as he needed an exemption from the government in Trinidad and Tobago to travel because of his refugee status.
His appearance at the Olympic stage, though brief, left him wanting more.
“How do I feel to be an Olympian? I don’t know yet,” he said, trying to fight back tears of emotion.
“But you will see me in the next Olympics and I will answer that question better. Right now I can’t answer it.”