Jamshedpur, Sept. 5: Boxing comes easily to him. After grabbing a silver medal at the Brandenburg Junior Boxing Championship in Germany this year, 18-year-old pugilist Robin Dev is eyeing an Olympics gold medal.

Sweating it out at the boxing centre of the JRD Tata Sports Complex, the youngster has in him the making of a champion boxer.

The success of his colleague Diwakar Prasad seems to have rubbed off on to him. Robin is dogged in his pursuit of the Olympic medal. “I have the ability to win international medals. Bagging an Olympics medal is my first priority,” said Robin, who is now in contract with the Tata Steel.

Robin’s two elder brothers are boxers of national fame. From being a naughty boy who used to thrash neighbours in his native Hissar in Haryana, Robin has scaled many heights and looks destined to climb many more. “My neighbours used to come to my house with their injured kids” he said.

At the age of 15, Robin had a national sub-junior gold under his belt in the 48-kg flyweight category.

Earlier, Robin claimed a bronze (51kg) in the Delhi senior nationals in 2001. He tasted international success after winning gold (48kg flyweight) in the Brendonburg meet. He has been the Haryana state champion for eight times. Robin won the north zone championship for the two consecutive years.

Bulldozing his way to the top in the national boxing circuit, Robin had set his eyes on international medal. He tasted success after cornering gold (48 kg flyweight) in the Brandenburg meet in 2001. Later, he won gold at the YMCA Championship in New Delhi.

After joining Tata Steel last year, Robin claimed silver in Germany (Brendonburg boxing meet) in 2002.

His association with the Indian Amateur Boxing Federation (IABF) took him to Santiago (Cuba) for the Junior World Championship last year. “I was running a high fever but the federation asked me to participate. I could not win a medal but the exposure helped me,” he said.

His association with steel major came in an interesting way. Tata Steel coach E. Lakra spotted him at the Sports Authority of India (SAI) camp in Bhiwani, Haryana last year. “He asked me to join Tata Steel. My father was not interested in the deal. But my brothers convinced him ,” Robin said.

Robin is now preparing for the senior nationals scheduled in Bangalore from September 9-15.