Satish Kumar (+91kg) entered the semi-finals of the Asian Boxing Championships and booked a berth in the World Championships, even as two other Indians fell by the wayside on a bitter-sweet day for the country's boxers, in Bangkok, on Wednesday.
Satish outpunched Tajikistan's Siyovush Zukhurov to bring some cheer to the Indian camp which was left disappointed by the contrasting defeats Madan Lal (52kg) and Kuldeep Singh (81kg) met with earlier in the day.
The Indian won via Technical Knock-out after his opponent received two warnings for excessive bending, besides showing an inability to deal with the ferocity of the Indian boxer.
After Thursday’s rest day, Satish is up against second seed Wang Zhibao of China in the semi-finals.
However, there was disappointment too as Madan and Kuldeep bowed out. They both, though, still have a chance of making the World Championships cut if their respective opponents make the finals.
"Satish was very dominant in the bout and the referee had to stop the contest in the third round because the Tajik was unable to handle the beating and was indulging in excessive bending," national coach Gurbax Singh Sandhu said.
First up for India on Wednesday was Madan Lal, against second seed Shakhobidin Zoirov of Uzbekistan.
The odds were loaded against the Indian. Up against a sharp, quick-on-the-feet and incisive opponent, Madan was all at sea and thrown off balance on more than one occasion.
The Haryana-lad could hardly respond to the unrelenting assault by Zoirov, who quite literally toyed with him in the last few seconds of the bout before clinching it 3-0.
Kuldeep was next in and he gave a valiant fight before going down 1-2 to second seed Korean Kim Hyeongkyu.
The former national champion was not the least bit intimidated by his more fancied opponent and managed to unsettle him with some clever counter-attacks.
After being matched punch for punch in the opening round, Hyeongkyu was cautious in the second round and hesitated in launching any attacks against the gutsy Indian.
In the final round, Kuldeep went on an all out offensive but could not get the judges' nod despite seemingly dominating the contest.
"Kuldeep fought like a lion; it was a brilliant performance given that he was the underdog. It is sad that he had to end up on the losing side," said Sandhu.
Wednesday’s results leave the total number of Indians in the semi-finals at four. L Devendro Singh (49kg), Shiva Thapa (56kg) and Vikas Krishan (75kg) had earlier assured themselves of medals and places in the October World Championships.
Shiva's opponent in the last-four stage is Murodjon Akhmadaliev of Uzbekistan, while Devendro will square off against top-seeded Uzbek Hasanboy Dusmatov in the semi-finals.
Vikas will face Iraq's Waheed Waheed Abdulridha.
"I am satisfied with the performance of the boys. Four in the semi-finals is a very good show and hopefully they would do better," said Sandhu.
The World Championships in Doha is the first qualifying event for next year’s Olympics in Rio de Janeiro.
Image: India's Satish Kumar, in red, in action against Kazakh Ivan Dychko during the Incheon Asian Games in 2014.
Photograph: PTI
