A day after Akhil Kumar's giant-killing act, the boxing ring in the Olympics in Beijing brought more good news for India on Saturday as another pugilist Jitender scripted a sensational all-the-way victory against Uzbekistan's Tulashboy Doniyorov in a bout marred by frayed tempers to move into the pre-quarter final.
However, Indian athletes continued to put up a disappointing show with discus thrower Vikas Gowda and short distance runner Mandeep Kaur (400m) falling by the wayside in the qualification rounds.
Making his Olympic debut, Jitender Kumar, the 21-year-old dimunitive flyweight boxer from Haryana, swamped his Uzbek counterpart 13-6 in the four-round encounter and needs just one more victory to ensure himself and India a medal, following the footsteps of his cousin and mentor Akhil who reached the 54kg quarterfinals on Friday.
Jitender, who led in all the rounds on Saturday, meets three-time European champion Russian Georgy Balakshin in the last eight on August 20 and gets a chance to avenge his defeat in the 2007 World Championship by just one point.
"It's going to be tough against him. The last time we met it was too close to call and he (Balakshin) managed to sneak past riding on his luck but this time I am better prepared," Jitender said.
{{/usCountry}}"It's going to be tough against him. The last time we met it was too close to call and he (Balakshin) managed to sneak past riding on his luck but this time I am better prepared," Jitender said.
{{/usCountry}}"This time I'm not going to spare him. Akhil has beaten him in the past and I'll ask Akhil how to crack him," he added.