New Delhi, September 03: A recurring wrist injury marred Olympian Akhil Kumar’s feather weight debut as he lost to Dominican Republic’s Roberto Navarro Gonzalez but Jai Bhagwan brought some cheer to the Indian camp by winning his light weight opener in World Boxing Championships in Milan, Italy today.
The seventh seeded Akhil went down 2-16 to become the fourth Indian to make a first-round exit from the mega-event.
However, late last night, Asian silver medallist Jai Bhagwan outpunched Venezuela’s Angel Rodrigues 10-4 to bring the first cheer in the Indian camp.
Akhil, who had not competed in an international event since World Cup in December last year, found himself on the backfoot in the very first round, trailing 1-4.
“I ended up hurting my right wrist in first few seconds of the bout and the pain was too much to bear thereafter. I just couldn’t land a punch after that,” Akhil told PTI.
“I would consult my physio Heath Matthews from the Mittal Champions Trust to know the extent of damage but hopefully it’s not too much and I would recover quickly,” added the 27-year-old, who was operated for the injury last year.
Akhil could score just one more point against his rival’s 12 in the remaining two rounds to bow out.
“A long hook that he landed in the first round hurt him so badly that he couldn’t move his arm,” said national coach Gurbax Singh Sandhu. .
—PTI