Cop packs a punch for record book - Policeman Abhijeet Baruah hits pad 329 times in a minute

Abhijeet Baruah attempts the punching record in Jorhat on Saturday. Picture by UB Photos

Jorhat, Oct. 13: Former kickboxing champion and Guinness World Record holder Abhijeet Baruah today punched his way into the record books again, hitting a punching pad 329 times in one minute here.

At the packed Jorhat stadium, the 22-year-old youth from Jorhat today made his way into the Asia Book of Records and the India Book of Records by punching the pad at lightning speed.

He had entered the Guinness Book of World Records by running 156.2km barefoot in 24 hours earlier this year.

A jubilant Abhijeet, a policeman, told spectators that he had aspired to hit the pads 350 times and was happy that he had managed it 329 times.

The pads, which were held up by his friend Jayanta Tamuli, were hit more swiftly than the eye could count. Hence, both the observers of the record books had to refer to the video recording for an accurate count.

The certificates were given away as soon as the counting was done.

Abhijeet told the crowd that he would go to London for an attempt at the world record in December this year.

The attempt by the Assam policeman has been organised by The Great Run Club, an organisation formed with Jorhat MLA and parliamentary secretary for home affairs Rana Goswami as president.

Abhijeet told The Telegraph that he hoped that he would someday be able to make it to the Olympics in boxing after training. “Boxing is my first passion as I am a black belt in karate and kickboxing. It is the training in kickboxing, which enabled my success today,” he said. Abhijeet had bagged several gold, silver and bronze medals at various national-level martial arts competitions and had been selected for the World Kickboxing Championship held in Thailand in 2009 —the only one to be selected from the Northeast.

However, he had to return from Calcutta airport disappointed “because of some conspiracy and a delay in paying of money to the organisers”, which prevented him from going. He was then determined to do something outstanding for the state.

Abhijeet said with the help of The Great Run Club, he would write to the Assam Boxing Federation for training in boxing and also try for international training in the sport in Australia.

“Without training in the international arena, I will not be able to make my mark at the international level, which is a must for a ticket to the Olympics,” he said.

Tomorrow, Abhijeet will try to create another record by performing seven consecutive events. This will include running continuously for four hours from Jorhat stadium towards Sivasagar. As soon as the four hours are over, he will cycle back to Jorhat for the next three hours followed by a 200-metre run carrying a 40kg sandbag on his back. Then he will run barefoot for 200 metres, then do 20 push-ups followed by 20 sit-ups and then punch wearing boxing gloves for five minutes on punching pads at the Jorhat stadium.

Unfortunately, Baruah’s bike was stolen from outside the stadium today, while he was attempting the record.