IBF Press Release
Akhil And Manpreet Out Of The World Championships

The evening session of play on Monday (3rd October, 2011) did not have the best results for the Indian camp. Both the boxers in the fray bowed out of the tournament after suffering losses in their second round bouts. Former Commonwealth Champion, veteran Akhil Kumar (56kg) went down against John Nevin of Ireland while Asian Games silver medallist Manpreet Singh (91kg) lost his opening bout to Dzhakon Qurbanov of Tajikistan

Akhil, the most experienced Indian boxer drubbed Filip Barak of Slovakia comprehensively in his first round fight. But in the second round he was up against world number 4. Nevin a bronze medallist at the 2009 AIBA World Championships, proved to be a tough opponent. The 30 year old could not break the strong defence of the Irish boxer, who took a 7:5 lead in the first round owing to his counter attacks. The second round continued on the same vein with Nevin making it a five point game, he scored 7 points as opposed to Akhil?s 4. In the end the Akhil lost out on his opportunity to qualify got the 2012 London Games with a 14:21 defeat.

There was disappointment for Indian fans in the heavy weight division as well. Manpreet, who got a bye in the first round of the tournament, went down against Qurbanov. The 23 year old Indian started slow and lost crucial points in the opening round. The Tajikistan boxer who was leading 5:3 after the first three minutes of play, kept building on his lead and made it 12:7 after the second. Manpreet who seemed out of sorts against Qurbanov could not reduce the margin and in the lost 9:17 on points.

But there was good news for India earlier in the day with Debutant L Devendro Singh (49kg) and Commonwealth Games bronze-medallist Jai Bhagwan (60kg) registering victories in their respective weight category to advance to the pre-quarterfinal stage of the tournament. The duo joined Commonwealth Games gold medallist Manoj Kumar (64kg), Asian Games silver medallist Dinesh Kumar (81kg) and Asian Games gold medallist Vikas Krishnan (69kg) in the round of 16.

The ninth day of the championship will see all five Indians in the fray take to the rings in hopes of making it into the quarter-finals and qualifying for the London Olympics.

 

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