Boxing: Gutsy Satish Kumar's debut Olympics ends with loss to world champ Jalolov in QFs
A badly bruised Satish Kumar (+91kg) put up a gutsy performance against reigning world champion Bakhodir Jalolov but it was not enough to upstage the rampaging Uzbek as the Indian boxer made a quarterfinal exit from the Olympic Games here on Sunday.
Taking the ring with multiple stitches on his forehead and chin after sustaining cuts in the pre-quarters, Satish lost 0-5 but the scoreline was not reflective of his brave performance.
Satish had scripted history by just qualifying for the Games as he was the first super heavyweight from India to achieve the feat.
The 32-year-old Army man stood his ground in the biggest bout of his career, occasionally managed to land a shot with his right hand but Jalolov dominated the proceedings all through, relying on his imposing demeanour and excellent counter-attacking game to sail through.
What stood out about the Commonwealth Games silver-winner was his resolve to fight it out.
The former kabaddi player from Uttar Pradesh's Bulandshahr did not hesitate to launch attacks despite the risk of his cuts opening up.
Satish's forehead cut did open up eventually during the third round but he fought through even with that.
Jalolov, a 27-year-old footballer-turned-boxer, also acknowledged his rival's bravery at the end of the bout by nodding in appreciation towards him after securing his maiden Olympic Games medal.
Jalolov is also a three-time Asian champion, all those gold medals coming in succession to him since 2017.
With this the Indian men's boxing campaign came to an end in the Games.
Lovlina Borgohain (69kg) remains the lone pugilist in fray after having made made the semifinals to secure India's first and only boxing medal of the ongoing edition.
On Saturday, it was a major disappointment for India when world number one Amit Panghal (52kg) bowed out of the event following a 1-4 loss to Rio Games silver-medallist Yuberjen Martinez of Colombia.
An injured Vikas Krishan (69kg), and the debutant duo of Manish Kaushik (63kg) and Ashish Chaudhary (75kg) had earlier bowed out following opening-round losses.
In the women's competition, six-time world champion M C Mary Kom (51kg), two-time Asian champion Pooja Rani (75kg) and world bronze-winner Simranjit Kaur (60kg) had lost in the preliminary stage.
