Kumar goes down to world champion
TOKYO: Even 30 minutes after his bout against world champion Bakhodir Jalolov, Satish Kumar was getting his cuts stitched at the Kokugikan Arena’s medical centre. Jalolov won the superheavyweight quarter-final 5-0 but Kumar, the last of India’s five men boxers in the fray, braved pain to absorb a flurry of punches and on occasion, return the fire.
The 6ft 5 inch Jalolov was lightning quick with counters and struck meaty blows on Kumar who had suffered a cut on his forehead in the first round win against Jamaican Ricardo Brown. In the third round on Sunday, he reopened the wound. Kumar was bleeding but charged in to try for a knockout, having lost the first two rounds.
Even in rounds 1 and 2 Kumar, 32, did not flinch. Against the taller southpaw, he hit body shots and overhead punches. The Uzbek threw stinging jabs and mixed it up with an effective combination. True, Kumar could not keep up with Jalolov’s speed but the stomach for a fight he didn’t lack. Making India’s debut in the over-91 kg category, Kumar is the only Indian male boxer to have won a contest. The rest --- Amit Panghal, Vikas Krishan, Manish Kaushik and Ashish Kumar – lost in the opening round. A victory in the quarterfinal would have taken him to medal contention but it was too much of an ask against Jalolov, a favourite for the gold medal here. “Jalolov is a difficult opponent but Satish has been the only boxer to trouble him, even at the Olympic qualifier in Jordan in the first round,” said India’s high performance coach Santiago Nieva.