After beating 2012 bronze medallist Evaldas Petrauskas 2-1 to enter light welter 64kg pre-quarters, Indian boxer Manoj Kumar says his strategy worked to perfection; Shiva Thapa ousted in first round
Rio de Janeiro: Manoj Kumar made an impressive start to his second Olympic campaign as he sought to bury the ghosts of his previous appearance four years ago. Manoj beat the 2012 bronze medallist, the stocky Petrauskas Evaldas in a split decision on Wednesday night at the Rio Centro Hall.
India's Manoj Kumar (left) punches Lithuania's Evaldas Petrauskas during their men's light welter (64kg) first round bout at the Riocentro in Rio de Janeiro on Wednesday. Pic/AFP
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While Manoj joined Vikas Krishnan in second round, Shiv Thapa was eliminated from Rio in his opening 56 kg bantamweight bout. He lost a unanimous points decision to Robeisy Eloy Ramirez Carrazana of Cuba, who won a gold medal in 52 kg category in 2012 Olympics. Since then Cuban has moved to 56kg and won the 2015 Pan American Championships and was fifth at 2013 World Championships in Almaty. Thapa was fifth at 2015 World Championships in Doha. India now has two boxers left Manoj Kumar in 64 kg and Vikas Krishnan in 75 kg.
Manoj Kumar, confronting Pestrauskas, the bronze medallist of London Olympics and winner of a similar bronze on 2015 Europeans, displayed better footwork against the Lithuanian. The Indian dominated the first two rounds and ceded some advantage in the third. But he ran out a 29-28, 29-28, 28-29 winner on a split decision to advance to the pre-quarterfinals. Curiously, Petrauskas also won the 2010 Youth Olympics, where he beat Vikas Krishnan on the way to the gold.
Manoj said, "I knew I could beat him, because my reach is better. I got a lot of punches in early and kept the pressure. Towards the end, I just wanted to be careful and not allow any stray punches."
India's 56kg boxer Shiva Thapa
Manoj, 29, the most experienced Indian boxer in the current squad of three, must have felt vindicated as he was at the receiving end of a controversial decision in 2012. Manoj, who won the 2010 Commonwealth Games gold and the 2014 Arjuna Award made an impressive start in his second Olympics appearance. The win surely must have tasted sweet after bitter memories of the loss to Tom Stalker in 2012 Olympics.
Manoj's next opponent will be even tougher as he runs into Uzbek's Fazliddin Gaibnazarov, the silver medallist at last year's World Championships. Manoj Kumar had a significant height advantage and greater reach, which he used to the hilt. However, Petrauskas evaded them well initially and then started ducking for which he was warned. Manoj managed to win a close first round, where he had two judges scoring in his favour and one for his opponent.
Into the second round, Manoj used his long reach to stay out of trouble. AT the same time he managed some point worthy punches, which tilted the round in his favour. In the second round Manoj overpowered his opponent and built up a lead that served him in good stead. The Lithuanian boxer did evade the big blows, but Manoj eked out crucial points.
The third and the final round saw Petrauskas, score better, but the damage had been done. The Indian smartly stayed out of reach of any killer blows and ran out a winner. It was now a question of hanging in against an opponent, who had conceded early advantage but had age on his side as the Lithuanian is five years younger.
Manoj hung and despite Petrauskas winning the third round narrowly the Indian won the fight by a split decision. It was just not Thapa's day and he seemed to be out boxed in each round. In fact by the third round, the Indian was even knocked down. He was outpointed 30-25, 30-27, 30-27 in what even his coach, Gurbax Sandhu said was 'one-sided'.
He added, "On his say, Shiva can beat anyone, but it was just not his day. Also his Cuban opponent has a lot of experience and won a gold medal in London four years ago." Four years ago, Thapa was India's youngest boxer ever at Olympics at the age of 18.
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