Assured of an Olympic berth, Indian boxer Vikas Krishan (75kg) on Friday settled for a bronze medal in the International Boxing Association’s (AIBA) World Qualifying Tournament after he was ruled out of the semifinal clash owing to a cut on his forehead.
He sustained the cut last night during his quarterfinal contest against Korea’s Lee Dongyun. The Indian triumphed 3-0 to make the semifinal and assure himself of an Olympic quota berth.
However, the injury he sustained required stitches on his forehead, which forced him out of today’s semifinal clash against Turkmenistan’s Achilov Arslanbek, who got past Italian Cavallaro Salvatore in his quarterfinal contest.
“Vikas Krishan can’t box today as he was declared medically unfit by the official doctors of the competition in the morning weigh in and medical examination because of stitches above his eyes,” an official of the Indian team told PTI.
Former Commonwealth Games gold-medallist Manoj Kumar (64kg) was the other Indian boxer to secure an Olympic ticket yesterday by winning in the quarterfinal. Manoj will be up against European champion Pat McCormack of Britain in the semifinal today. McCormack had defeated Frenchman Amzile Hassan in his quarterfinal bout.
Also in action today in the evening session would be Commonwealth Games silver-medallist L Devendro Singh (49kg), who will have to beat Spaniard Carmona Heredia Samuel in the semifinal to be assured of a berth in the Olympics as only two quota places are up for grabs in his weight category.
Sumit Sangwan (81kg), who lost to top seed Petr Khamukov of Russia in the quarterfinal last night, also remains in contention for Rio. He will qualify if Khamukov goes on to win the gold medal.
So far, three Indian boxers have qualified for the Olympic Games. Apart from Vikas and Manoj, Shiva Thapa (56kg) has also made the cut, booking his berth in the Asian Qualifiers in March.
