Boxer Akhil Kumar loses rematch with Julie

Akhil Kumar today lost the chance to retain his Commonwealth Games bantamweight crown in front of a home crowd after Louis Julie got revenge for his finals defeat in Melbourne.

Akhil Kumar on Sunday lost the chance to retain his Commonwealth Games bantamweight crown in front of a home crowd after Louis Julie got revenge for his finals defeat in Melbourne.

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The India boxer lost the quarter-final rematch in a scrappy contest in which the man from Mauritius slipped to the floor twice in the final round.

Kumar, 29, had been one of the star draws in the Games after his win in the bantamweight division in 2006.

But the quarter finallist from Beijing could not claw back the deficit and lost the bout 7-5 on points.

The win puts Julie on track to become only the island nation's second Commonwealth gold medallist since it began competing in the Games in Kuala Lumpur in 1998.

Richard Sunee took the flyweight gold in those Games.