Olympic Boxing: Manoj marches into round of 16

Yet another Indian boxer showed his class on the biggest stage as Manoj Kumar won his round of 32 bout against Serdar Hudayberdiyev of Turkmenistan in Men’s Light Welter (64kg) category. Manoj Kumar won his bout comprehensively as he raced to a 13 – 7 victory over his opponent from Turkmenistan.

Manoj Kumar, wearing blue, started off in a defensive fashion trying to absorb all the pressure. Interestingly, Hudayberdiyev also took the defensive route and the first round ended with both boxers trying to feel out each other. An uneventful round which saw both boxers tied at 2-2.

Round 2, however, saw a change in strategy from Kumar as he came out attacking from the word “Go”. Before Hudayberdiyev could settle in, the strapping boxer from Haryana unleashed a severe attack on him. Solid body punches and four jabs on straight on the head of Hudayberdiyev made sure that the Indian raced into a lead of 4 points. Hudayberdiyev tried to come back but Kumar displayed outstanding footwork to sway out of the punches and ended the round with a lead of 7-3.

Hudayberdiyev had to go for it in the third round but Manoj Kumar sized up his opponent and stuck to a conservative strategy. He swayed out of most of the punches and kept up a tight guard. As the round progresses, Hudayberdiyev looked desperate and out of steam with most of his punches missing the Indian. Kumar took the opportunity and kept Hudayberdiyev at the ropes and delivered ferocious jabs and upper cuts to prove his dominance. Hudayberdiyev tried hard to get into his body but his lack luster defence helped the Indian to get a clear shot at him. Manoj Kumar took full advantage and and ended the round on 4-2.

Manoj Kumar came to the limelight after winning gold medal in the light welterweight division at Delhi Commonwealth Games in 2010. He secured a bronze in the 2007 Asian Boxing Championship and another bronze in the 2009 Czech Grand Prix. He won Gold medal in 10th YMCA International Boxing Tournament in 2007. He has also won a Bronze medal in Olympic Qualifying Boxing Tournament in 2008.

The 25 year old now follows Devendro Singh(49kg), Vijender Singh (75kg), Jai Bhawan (60kg) and Vikas Krishan (69kg) to go through to the round of 16. He will take on Thomas Stalker of USA in the next round.