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Journalism of Courage
Some months back,when Beijing Olympics quarter-finalist Jitender Kumar changed his category from flyweight (51 kg) to bantamweight (54 kg),fellow boxer Akhil Kumar had advised him to concentrate on being more attacking in the opening minutes of a bout. The tactic backfired for the Asian Boxing Championship silver medallist as Jitender was shown the door at the world championships in the first round on Wednesday after being given three warnings against Yunusov Anvar of Tajikistan. It was the third disappointment in two days for the nine-member Indian contingent after ABC gold medallist Suranjoy Singh and Manoj Kumar earlier lost their opening bouts on Tuesday.
I was trying to get into an attacking mode early into the game,which,I guess,did not work for me. We all were keen to put Suranjoys narrow loss behind us,but getting that warning early in the game meant that I could not keep my composure in the next two rounds, Jitender told The Indian Express.
Sixth seed Anvar was leading 17-7 when the bout was called off in the final round by the referee after Jitender was given the third and last warning for a right upper cut. Jitender had earlier lost to Anvar in the training-cum-competition event in May this year and was given the first official warning in the bout for clinching Anvar in the opening minute. Jitender tried to compensate by scoring two consecutive points before being warned again for pushing and downing Anvar in the second round.
We had a bad start to the tournament but we have not lost hopes of getting Indias first medal in the world championship. Jai Bhagwan will be playing later in the evening and we are very confident about him. He has got an easy draw and he looks to be in fine shape, said national coach Gurbax Singh Sandhu.
Beijing Olympic quarter-finalist Akhil Kumar will face Roberto Gonzalez of Dominician Republic and isnt expected to meet any of the big names in his category before quarter-final stage. Of course,we were disappointed after the losses on Tuesday and today. But we would like to make a fresh start in the championship. Nanao,Vijender,Dinesh and Manpreet will be playing in the next few days and were looking forward to some good bouts from them, Akhil said.
