Why was he dropped and his clearance came only when the coaches and the media pounced on it? It could become the biggest whodunit in Indian sport. More so, if on Thursday, the 20-year-old Dingko wins India's first boxing gold medal in 16 years. Even if Dingko loses the final to World No. 2 Timur Tulyakov of Uzbekistan, the silver medal will still be the biggest slap on the face of Indian sports officialdom.

Not cleared by the government on the plea that he was `out of form' and `had no medal chance', his attitude was questioned. He waslabelled as `Ill-behaved'. In Bangkok, the very mention of his name is enough to make Indian officials run for cover.

The Dingko Story has already attracted a lot of media attention here. And many of the experts here reckon Dingko has a fair chance against Tulyakov. In Bangkok, where there is a lot of illegal betting on boxing in the markets and the venue, Dingko is being quoted as 60:40 favourite against Tulyakov, the Goodwill Games champion.

``If a boxer can beat a favourite from the host country in a semi-final, you can be assured that he has an excellent chance. Amateur boxing is full of incidents where foreign favourites have been adjudged losers in close fights against local fighters. So he has to be good,'' said one Thai official, who was present when Dingko beat Sontaya Wongrpates of Thailand 18-1 on points.

Dingko's quick-footedness and his style of coming back after landing a few punches worthy of getting points from the computer make him one of the few Indian boxers who has adjusted himselfto the vagaries of computer judgement, which lays emphasis on specific kinds of body and head punches.

So, who thought he was a bad bet? It could not have been the coaches -- B I Fernandes of Cuba or G S Sandhu -- for both are believed to think very highly of Dingko. Fernandes was among the foreign coaches who wrote to Sports Minister Uma Bharati, complaining that her department was `cutting and chopping' teams at the last minute and dropping medal prospects.

Suresh Kalmadi, the president of the IOA, maintains he and his organisation are not responsible for his omission. ``We at the IOA have to by and large go by what the respective federation tell us. We send the names and then Sports Authority of India and the Government clears them. In Dingko's case his name was sent for the team but the Government struck it off thinking he was not a medal prospect,'' says Kalmadi.

Dingko has been specifically asked to keep quiet. And the Manipuri youngster sticks to the line: ``I don't know why I was dropped and howI was included again.'' He says nothing about the reports of his being depressed and his drinking bouts. Maybe he will after the Games, but for now he wants to concentrate on the biggest fight of his career.

How did he get back into the team? ``Again, I don't know,'' says Kalmadi. But other officials concede that the coaches' letter, reported by The Indian Express did play a role. Hours before the boxing team's departure, the IOA received the message that Dingko had been cleared and the boxer, who was already in Delhi, left with the team. But IOA has no answers to why they did not announce his clearance, as it did about many others.

``Just as it always happens, in the days leading to the Asian Games, a few names kept trickling in almost every day with clearances from the Government. It all boils down to who had how much clout with the ministry and get clearances,'' says an official accompanying the Indian contingent.