Indian pugilists ended their campaign at the 17th Asian Games with five medals as Vikash Krishan and Satish Kumar settled for bronze medals after losing their semi-final bouts against respective opponents
Satish Kumar
Incheon: Indian pugilists ended their campaign at the 17th Asian Games with five medals as Vikash Krishan and Satish Kumar settled for bronze medals after losing their semi-final bouts against respective opponents.
However India's performance graph deteriorated from the last edition in Guangzhou, where they won nine medals including two gold medals, three silver and four bronze medals.
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This time it was gold from the legendary MC Mary Kom and four bronze medals won by L Sarita Devi, Pooja Rani, Vikas and Satish.
Satish Kumar. Pic/ AFP
Vikas, a gold medallist in the last edition in Guangzhou, lost against current World Champion Zhanibek Alimkhanuly of Kazakhstan by split verdict of 2-1 in the middleweight (75 kg) category.
Satish, on the otherhand was no match for 6ft 9 inch Kazakh giant Ivan Dychko, who won with a clear 3-0 verdict in all the rounds.
In the Vikas versus Zhanibek match, the first round went to the Indian with two judges ruling it 10:9 in Vikas's favour. Zhanibek, came into his own in the second round where two judges ruled the round in his favour.
However, it was an unanimous decision in the final round which went in the Kazakh boxer's favour.
Earlier, in the Superheavyweight (+91 kg) category, the giant Dychko outboxed UP lad Satish, who is no mean unit, at 6 ft 2 inch.
Dychko used his superior reach to punch from a distance. Satish found it difficult to land his jabs and hooks as Dychko would easily evade his Indian opponent with swift footwork.
Dychko used his left jab to the Indian's face to score points in each round and once rocked the Bulandshahar lad with
a straight punch followed by a nice right-left combination.
"He had a great height advantage and I could not go near him. He is an Olympic Games medalist and I had also lost to him in the last World Championship. 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," said Satish after the bout.
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