Indian boxer Vikas Krishan Yadav (75kg) fought his heart out but still fell short as he settled for the silver medal after going down to Uzbekistan’s Bektemir Melikuziev in a brutal summit clash of the Asian Championships in Bangkok.
The 23-year-old Indian lost 0-2 to the reigning Youth Olympic champion in a gruelling fight that left both the boxers with several bruises on their faces.
With Vikas’ silver, India finished their campaign with one silver and three bronze medals — L Devendro Singh (49kg), Shiva Thapa (56kg) and Satish Kumar (+91kg) being the third-place finishers. Besides, six Indians also made the cut for next month’s World Championships — the first qualifying event for the Olympics next year.
In today’s bout, the two boxers went in with sharply contrasting strategies in the opening round. While Melikuziev was fearless and moved around fluently threatening to attack every moment, Vikas was defensive and had himself covered in a shell guard.
Vikas went on the offensive in the second round but the fist-speed of Melikuziev was something that the Indian struggled to keep pace with.
