Rio 2016: Manoj Kumar mauls medallist

Rio de Janeiro: Former Commonwealth Games gold-medallist Manoj Kumar (64kg) stunned ex-Olympic bronze-medallist Evaldas Petrauskas in a fiercely-contested opening bout to enter the pre-quarterfinals of the Rio Games here. Manoj prevailed 2-1 in the hard-fought battle in which he had to hold his ground against the intense aggression displayed by Lithuanian Petrauskas in all three rounds.

Later, Shiva Thapa (56kg) bowed out after being out-punched by fourth-seeded Cuban Robeisy Ramirez in the opening round. The 22-year-old, competing in his second Olympics, lost 0-3 in a one-sided contest in which he also ended up sustaining a cut above his left eye. A former Asian bronze-medallist, Manoj will next be up against fifth seed Uzbek Fazliddin Gaibnazarov in the pre-quarters scheduled on Sunday.

Evenly-matched on pace and agility, the two boxers were quite distinct in their attacking approach. While Petrauskas, the London Olympics bronze winner in lightweight 60kg division, aggressively tried to engage the Indian from close range, Manoj preferred to back-peddle and hit from a distance. At the end of the opening three minutes, it was Manoj’s tactics that found favour with the judges, who awarded the first round to the former Commonwealth Games gold-medallist on a split decision.

In the second round too, Petrauskas was the more aggressive of the two but Manoj managed to stave off the challenge by sticking to his strategy of keeping a distance and hitting occasional uppercuts to the Lithuanian’s body. None of the boxers were willing to make any change to their strategy in the final three minutes as well although the desperate attacks launched by Petrauskas did unnerve Manoj to an extent. The pumped up effort secured Petrauskas the final round but it was not enough to turn the bout in his favour as Manoj was adjudged the winner.

Boxers kit falls short:

Threatened with disqualification for not wearing vests bearing their country’s name, Indian boxers at the ongoing Olympics have got their kits replaced as required by the International Boxing Association (AIBA) and will now compete without any hindrance. The AIBA officials had pointed out the “technical flaw” after Manoj Kumar’s victory in his light welterweight (64kg) opening contest against Petrauskas.

Indians have been allowed to compete under the tri-colour at the Games despite the suspension imposed on the country’s national federation. So far, Vikas Krishan (75kg) and Manoj (64kg) have won their opening bouts to enter pre-quarters of their respective categories.