The Indian challenge in the boxing competition of the 17th Asian Games got over on Thursday as both the boxers— defending champion Vikas Krishan and Satish Kumar— losing their respective semi-final bouts at the Seonhak Gymnasium here on Thursday and settling for a bronze.
Indian boxers finished with five medals, including just one gold won by MC Mary Kom on Wednesday. India won nine medals with two gold and three silver medals in the previous games in Guangzhou.Defending champion Vikas Krishan lost his middleweight (75kg) category semifinal bout to current World No 1 Zhanibek Alimkhanuly of Kazakhstan 2-1 by split verdict.
Krishan, who was playing his first major tournament since the disappointing london Olympic in 2012, gave a good fight to the Kazakh and matched him punch for punch for two rounds. In the third, Alimkhanuly stepped up his game and gave a good beating to the Indian.
Earlier, Satish was outclassed by another Kazakh boxer Ivan Dychko in the super heavy (+91kg) semifinal. Satish, who hails from Bulandshahr district of Uttar Pradesh, became the first boxer from the region to win a medal in an international competition.Satish, who himself is 6-feet 1-inch and well built, dwarfed in front of the giant 6’7” frame of Dychko. Most of his attempts to reach for the Kazakh’s face went in vain. Dychko’s hands were too long and his defence too strong for Satish to gain some crucial points.
Whenever he tried to breach Dychko’s defence, Satish had to drop his guard, giving the Kazakh enough room to land his powerful punches that, on a couple of occasions, threatened his existence in the ring. But Satish needs to be lauded for his audacity; despite those heavy blows, he kept coming back.The result – 3-0 – truly reflected the dominance of Dychko but it failed to show the courage that Satish displayed in the ring. His bronze became more precious when the Kazakh boxer hugged him to acknowledge his valiant efforts.
“I tried to dodge his punches by moving to the sides but his tall frame and better reach made it difficult for me to hit him. He is an Olympic Games (silver) medalist. My coach thinks I fought better today than in the worlds. I am happy to become the first Asian Games medalist from UP in boxing,” he said.