Asian Games: Satish Kumar wins bronze

Satish Kumar (red)

Indian boxer Satish Kumar settled for bronze in the super heavyweight category (+91 kg) after he was defeated comprehensively in the semifinals by Kazakhstan’s Dychko Ivan at the Seonhak Gymnasium on Thursday. The 25-year-old Indian pugilist struggled to stay competitive against the Kazakh, who showed his finesse to see all the three judges rule the first round in his favour.

Wearing the right attire, Kumar needed a strong second round to harbour hopes of playing in the gold medal bout, but it was not to be easy as Dychko grew in confidence and dominated proceedings in that round. Going into the third and final, while the Kazakh was poised for a final berth, the Indian needed a knockout to push for a final spot. There was no let up in Dychko’s intensity as all the three judges again rules in his favour for the third time, which confirmed the tournament exit door of Kumar.

The 2013 World Championship bronze medallist earlier got a bye into the quarterfinals and defeated Iashaish Hussein Eishaish Hussein of Jordan. With the exit of Kumar, India men’s team hopes for a gold rests on Vikas Krishnan, who features in the middleweight (75 kg category) semifinal against another Kazakhstan pugilist Alimkhanuly Zhanibek.

Star boxer MC Mary Kom defeated Shekerbekova Zhaina of Kazakhstan in the women’s flyweight final (48-51 kg) to give India’s seventh gold medal. Two other women boxers – L Sarita Devi and Pooja Rani bagged a bronze each.

Indian boxers will be looking to put on a stellar performance after capping a splendid effort at the 2014 Glasgow Commonwealth Games, where they won five medals including four silver medals and a bronze – they created history as for the first time four Indians reached the final of the Commonwealth Games.