Assured of an Olympic berth, Indian boxers Vikas Krishan (75kg category) and Manoj Kumar (64kg category) had to be content with bronze medals on Friday in the International Boxing Association’s (AIBA) World Qualifying Tournament taking place in Baku, Azerbaijan.
While Vikas was declared medically unfit and had to concede his bout against Turkmenistan’s Achilov Arslanbek, Manoj lost 0-3 to reigning European champion Pat McCormack of Britain.
Vikas sustained a cut above his eyes last night during his quarterfinal contest against Korea’s Lee Dongyun. The Indian triumphed 3-0 to make the semifinal and assure himself of an Olympic quota berth. However, the injury he sustained required stitches on his forehead, which forced him out of today’s semifinal clash
Vikas Krishan can’t box today as he was declared medically unfit by the official doctors of the competition in the morning weigh in and medical examination because of stitches above his eyes.A Team India Official
Another Disappointment for Team India
In another disappointing news for India, Sumit Sangwan’s (81kg) hopes of qualifying for the Olympics also ended on Friday. Sumit, who lost to top seed Petr Khamukov of Russia in the quarterfinal on Thursday, would have remained in contention had his opponent gone on to win the gold medal. But the Russian chose to give a walkover in the semifinal, dashing Sumit’s hopes.
Also in action today in the evening session would be Commonwealth Games silver-medallist L Devendro Singh (49kg), who will have to beat Spaniard Carmona Heredia Samuel in the semifinal to be assured of a berth in the Olympics as only two quota places are up for grabs in his weight category.
So far, three Indian boxers have qualified for the Olympic Games. Apart from Vikas and Manoj, Shiva Thapa (56kg) has also made the cut, booking his berth in the Asian Qualifiers in March.
(With inputs from PTI.)
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