Indian pugilist Manoj Kumar faced Lithuania’s Evaldas Petrauskas in the men’s 64kg light welter division at the Rio Olympics 2016 and created a huge upset by edging the Lithuanian 29-28, 29-28 and 28-29.
The first round started with the Lithuanian attacking the Indian from the word go. Manoj, on the other hand, tried to maintain distance with his jab and swayed his way out of the Lithuanian’s punches. However, as the Indian landed more punches than his counterpart, he was awarded the first round by the judges.
The second round saw the London Games bronze medallist trying to gain an upper hand. However, after taking a punch, Manoj came back and dominated the round, using his reach perfectly and troubling the Lithuanian more often than not. Kumar tried to keep this as a boxing match but Petrauskas was making it a brawl. However, Petrauskas’ tactics didn't work much as Manoj edged the second round as well.
The Indian required to keep his cool and stay as far away from the Lithuanian as possible. Manoj’s experience helped him tackle the opponent and stayed tough to keep going. Though Petrauskas dominated the third round and landed more blows, the Indian hung on and managed to eke out a result and qualify for the next round.
Manoj will now face Fazliddin Gaibnazarov of Uzbekistan in the round-of-16.
