Indian pugilists at the Olympics

India participated in the 1948 London and 1952 Helsinki Olympic boxing competitions and then have participated at all the venues since 1972 Munich. It’s only in 2008, that Vijender won the first medal for India in Boxing. However, India has come close to winning a medal on a few occasions in the past.

The first Indian boxer to come close to a medal was Ron Norris. He made it to the quarter finals at Helsinki in 1952. In 1992 Barcelona, Rajendra Prasad also reached the quarter finals but lost to Roel Velasco of Philippines. In 2000 Sydney, Gurcharan Singh came even closer. In his quarter final bout against Andrei Fedrchouk of Ukraine, he was leading by 12-11 till eight seconds from the end of the contest. The bout ended in a 12-12 draw but the opponent was declared the winner on the basis of count back for being throwing more punches than Gurcharan (60-42).

Here’s a list of Indian pugilists who have participated at the Olympics thus far:

2008 Beijing
Jitender (51kg), Akhil Kumar (54kg), A L Lakra (57kg), Vijender (75kg), Dinesh Kumar (81kg)

• Vijender won the first ever Olympic medal for an Indian boxer. He defeated Badou Jack of Gambia 13-2 in the round of 32. In the round of 16, he defeated Angkhan Chomphuphuang of Thailand 13-3 to reach the Middleweight Boxing Quarterfinals. He beat southpaw Carlos Góngora of Ecuador 9-4 in the quarterfinals on August 20, 2008 which guaranteed him a medal. He lost 5-8 to Cuba’s Emilio Correa in the semi-finals on 22nd August 2008 and shared a bronze medal.
• Akhil Kumar won his first round (round of 32) in the Bantamweight 54 kg category beating Frenchman Ali Hallab on points 12-5. In the round of 16, he controversially beat current World Champion Sergey Vodopyanov coming from 2-6 down in the second round of the bout. The score was tied 9-9 at the end of the fourth round but the judges’ decision went in Akhil’s favor on account of having landed a greater number of punches. He lost 3-10 to Veaceslav Gojan of Moldova in the quarter finals on August 18th, 2008.
• Jitender fought against Turkey’s Ulas Furkan Memis in the round of 32. The referee stopped the contest in the third round of the bout when Jitender led 12-3. In the round of 16, he was pitted against Uzbek boxer Tulashboy Doniyorov. Jitender outscored his opponent 13-6. However, he lost to Georgy Balakshin of Russia (11-15) in a tightly fought quarter finals match on August 20th, 2008. Jitender had 9 stiches in his jaw during the quarterfinal.
• A L Lakra and Dinesh Kumar failed to make an impact at Beijing as they crashed out in their opening bouts.

2004 Athens
Akhil Kumar (51kg), Diwakar Prasad (54kg), Vijender (64kg) and Jitender Kumar (81kg).

• None of the four boxers from India returned with a medal. Diwakar Prasad and Jitender Kumar won their first round contests but were eliminated in the second round. Akhil Kumar lost to former world champion Thomas Jerome of France in the first bout.

2000 Sydney
S Suresh Singh (light fly), N Dingko Singh (bantam), Jitendra Kumar (middle) and Gurcharan Singh (light heavy).

• The luck eluded Gurcharan Singh from winning the first medal for the country. It seemed almost certain till the last eight seconds of his quarter final contest but he lost in the end on count back. Asian Games gold medallist Dingko Singh surrendered meekly in the second round after receiving bye in the first. Jitendra Kumar beat Donald Orr in his opening bout but went down to World Championship’s runner up Adrian Diaconu in the next round. Suresh Singh crashed out in the first round.

1996 Atlanta
Devender Singh Thapa (light fly), Gurcharan Singh and Lakha Singh (heavy)

• Thapa was unlucky as he was stopped to continue his fight against Masibulete Makepula of SA in the first round by the Italian referee. It was neck and neck contest till then with the score line reading 4-3 in the favour of the Indian.

1992 Barcelona
Rajendra Prasad (light fly), Dharmendra Yadav (fly), Venkatesh Devarajan (bantam), Narendra Bisht (feather), Sandeep Kumar (light welter)

• Only Rajendra Prasad salvaged some prestige for India by making it to the quarter finals. Dharmendra Singh Yadav went down to European champion Istvan Kovacs of Hungary in the first round. Venkatesh Devarajan also made his exit in the opening round. He was out pointed by the ultimate gold medalist Joel Casamayor of Cuba.

1988 Seoul
Manoj Pingale (fly), Sahu Birajdar (bantam) and John Williams (feather)

• All the three Indian boxers won their opening bouts. Sahu Birajdar and Manoj Pingale advanced to the third rounds scoring thumping victories over their rivals in the second round.

1984 Los Angeles
Jas Lal Pradhan (light welter) and Kaur Singh (heavy).

• Jas Lal Pradhan crashed out in the first round while Kaur Singh in the second.

1980 Moscow
BS Thapa (light fly), Isaac Amaldas (fly) and Ganapathi Manoharan (bantam).

• Thapa and Amaldas faded away in the first round while Manoharan was knocked out in the second round. Manoharan who impressed in his first round victory over a Guinean boxer was unlucky not to go through to the quarter finals.

1976 Montreal
SK Rai (feather) and CC Machaiah (light)

• SK Rai managed to enter the second round as he got the first round bye but he ran into the double Olympic gold medalist Angel Herrera of Cuba and was knocked out easily.

1972 Munich
Chandra Narayanan (fly), Muniswamy Venu (light) and Mehtab Singh (light heavy)

• Muniswamy Venu gave valiant display and carried his challenge up to third round. He stopped Great Britain’s leading pugilist N Cole before losing to eventual bronze medallist Samuel Mougua of Kenya in the next round.  The campaign of the two other boxers ended in the second and first round respectively. Chandra Narayanan lost to Poland’s Leszek Blaznski, who finally claimed the bronze, in the second round. Mehtab lost to Brazil’s V Oliviera on points in the first round.

1952 Helsinki
S Mazumdar (fly), B Bose (feather), Ron Norris (welter) and O Ward (light heavy).

• Ron Norris became the first Indian boxer to enter the quarter finals.

1948 London:
R Bhatta (fly), Bob Lall (bantam), Benoy Bose (feather), Gene Raymond (light), Johnny Nuttal (middle), B Arathoon and R Cranston (welter).

• Out of the seven participants only three - R Bhatta, Bob Lall and J Nuttal survived their opening bouts. Bhatta was beaten by F Sadano of USA in the second round while Lall was defeated by Portugal’s Juan Veneges. Nuttal lost to Itallian Ivano Fontana.

Stats Courtesy: Sports Bharti