Hailing from Rajound village in the Kaithal district of Haryana, Manoj Kumar is already an established boxing star in India. He was awarded the Arjuna Award in 2014; won a gold medal in the CWG-2010, has represented India in the 2012 London Olympics, and is ranked sixth in the AIBA.
To promote boxing in India and to provide top-notch coaching, Kumar has established a boxing academy called as “Manoj Kumar Boxing Academy Kurukshetra”. Manoj Kumar is participating in the 2016 Rio Olympics and is to fight the 24-year-old Lithuanian, Evaldas Petrauskas.
Evaldas Petrauskas is one of the biggest boxing talents from Europe with stellar achievements in the ring. He has won a gold medal at the 2009 Junior European Boxing Championships held in Yerevan, and has also won silver medals on two occasions a year after that in the 2010 Junior Olympic Games, and the Youth World Boxing Championships. Two years later he won a bronze medal in the 2012 London Olympics.
Petrauskas is a ferocious opponent in the ring with the fighting-style of a brawler, and couple that with his Southpaw hitting style and you have the most unpredictable fighter in the ring.
If Manoj Kumar manages to emerge victorious after the fight with Petrauskas, and goes to the Round of 16 he should be on the lookout for the 26-year-old German Artem Harutyunyan a.k.a The Original. A brawler, Harutyunyan has bagged a bronze medal in the 2013 European Boxing Championship held in Minsk, Belarus. Harutyunyan likes to instigate his opponents and lands snapping straight shots on the inside and when in range tries to hit his huge overhand right resulting in a TKO.
On the same lines of Harutyunyan there is the Russian Vitaliy Dunaytsev who is a two-time Russian National Champion in the light welterweight division both in the year 2013 and 2014. He won gold in the 2015 European Championships after defeating Pat McCormack of Great Britain. He also became a World Champion in the light welterweight division at the 2015 AIBA World Boxing Championship held in Doha.
Also in the Round of 16, and a potential opponent for Kumar is Cuba’s Yasniel Toledo Lopez. He won the Under-17 world title in 2005, later winning the National Championship in 2007 against Yankiel Leon, and also winning the Ahmet Comert Cup. In 2011 he won a silver medal in the World Championships and then later that same year he beat Robson Conceicao to win the PanAm lightweight title. Lopez was also a Bronze Medalist in the 2012 London Olympics.
Manoj Kumar might need to up his game and may need to spring some surprise techniques on these opponents as these fighters mentioned above are not only successful despite their achievements but, are also highly skilled in their in-ring performance. If Manoj Kumar wishes to win that sweet Olympic gold he must study these men and must try to create new innovative offense.
