"What a warrior!": Twitter lauds Satish Kumar for fighting with a major eye injury against World No. 1

India started their Day 9 campaign with a defeat, as I boxer Satish Kumar crashed out of the men's super heavyweight category at the 2021 Tokyo Olympics.

The Indian boxer's lion-hearted display was not enough to propel him to a win against Uzbekistan's Bakhodir Jalolov. Despite being listed as probable for the bout, Kumar put in a great fight against the world champion.

The Indian pugilist started aggressively in the first bout. But precision punches from the Uzbek helped him win the round unanimously. The story of the match was the same. All of the Indian's punches were rendered useless by Bakhodir's brilliance.

Here's more on what happened during the quarterfinal bout.

Satish Kumar crashes out in quarterfinals against Bakhodir

Kumar's efforts fell short as the Uzbek boxer maintained a strong guard throughout the bout. After the first round, Satish tried to attack more but once again failed to have an impact against Bakhodir. The judges once again declared the Uzbek as the winner in a unanimous decision.

Forgetting about the pain, Kumar kept fighting bravely. The armyman tried his level best to knock Bakhodir out in the final round. But the taller Uzbek didn't let any of that happen. The match ended in a 5-0 unanimous decision for Bakhodir.

Competing in his first Olympic games, Satish Kumar showed great character in fighting despite the injury. His performance was commendable and hardly resembled that of a fighter who had been listed as probable just a day ahead of the bout.

The Indian definitely has a few more years of boxing left in him and will only make the country prouder from here on. If he continues displaying such lion-hearted performances, he can be assured of a great career ahead.

Fans react to Satish Kumar's loss in the quarters

The result may have disappointed the fans, but keeping that aside they appreciated the efforts taken by Satish Kumar to compete in the quarterfinals despite the injury. Here's how Twitter reacted to his loss:

Satish Kumar has a big heart. Despite injury he decided to box. It's different matter he lost. https://t.co/a14FE7cjYO

— navneet singh (@navneetsport) August 1, 2021

Great respect for Satish Kumar for his bravado #boxing @Tokyo2020 but just how long will india keep feeling happy with 1st time qualifying ..fought like a lion ..etc..

— Madhusudan (@MadhusudanRangu) August 1, 2021

Satish Kumar would return home with his head held high. Brave show by him against Uzbek Jalalov.

— Nitin Sharma (@Nitinsharma631) August 1, 2021

Take a bow to Satish Kumar👏🙌. he is playing after getting injured.No matter what the result be.. we always support you. @WeAreTeamIndia#Cheer4India #olmypics #SatishKumar #boxing #ind pic.twitter.com/cs0cG0pWva

— Parikshit manglunia (@pa10231) August 1, 2021

Greatest respect for Satish Kumar! The man giving it all and that's all you can ask. #Boxing

— Nevin (@nevinthomas) August 1, 2021

13 years after Vijender Singh made history in Beijing no other Indian men's boxer has added to that bronze. Satish brave but outclassed by Jalolov. Other 4 men beaten in their first bout. Lovlina, the only saving grace but undeniably the men have been disappointing in Tokyo

— jonathan selvaraj (@jon_selvaraj) August 1, 2021

Fought hard, Satish Kumar. He was injured after the last round, decided to compete in the quarter-final against the world number 1 but the result was against him still he gives everything for #TeamIndia in #Boxing at the #Tokyo2020 #Olympics. pic.twitter.com/2LsAqUuBxl

— Johns. (@CricCrazyJohns) August 1, 2021

#TokyoOlympics Well Played Satish Kumar Your aggression in the Ring was tremendous 👍Proud Jai Hind 🇮🇳

— KJS DHILLON🇮🇳 (@Tiny_Dhillon) August 1, 2021

One more loss in QFs but We're proud of Satish kumar for playing despite of an injury 👏🙌He fought well and was great in 1st Round & 3rd round still he lost it 5-0, I don't understand how.Champ Satish kumar ❤️#Boxing #Olympics #TeamIndia pic.twitter.com/yfVIEayTRB

— Girish (@ViratkohliFabb2) August 1, 2021

The world champion was too good but mad respect to Satish Kumar, played for the nation despite injuries. We’re proud of you gutsy lad. #Boxing | #TeamIndia | #Olympics pic.twitter.com/aKowsgrZ2E

— • (@Shrutika_45_) August 1, 2021

Huge respect for #SatishKumar. He was injured and he knew he was outclassed against the World No 1, but he went down fighting. https://t.co/X8iJdO4xmr

— Vikram Chandra (@vikramchandra) August 1, 2021

Fought well but result against himWell played champion#SatishKumar pic.twitter.com/adZLgG6kMW

— Vinay Yadav🇮🇳 (@vinyryadav) August 1, 2021

Respect!!!🙌🙌decided to fight with the world no. 1 in the quaters with 6-7 stitches!gave everything to the game but the opponent was extremely good!fought till the end...his stitches reopened..that's commendable!#SatishKumar #TeamIndia #Boxing #Cheer4India #TokyoOlympics pic.twitter.com/QdubeASgu3

— Nish27 |padhle ab toh padhle| (@anonymous_nish) August 1, 2021

Satish Kumar goes down fighting in the quarters with a relly brave performance for #Ind at #OlympicGames #Tokyo2020 pic.twitter.com/97aokPPhnc

— Joel Monteiro (@J03lM0nteir0) August 1, 2021