Akhil Kumar who stunned the world champion Sergey Vodopyanov of Russia in the pre-quarter final match lost to Moldova’s Veaclesav Gojan at the Beijing Olympics Boxing (54 kgs) event. In what appeared to be a one-sided match, Akhil lost to Gojan by 10-3. Akhil started well and tied his opponent to 2-2 in the first 2 rounds. However in the third round Gojan started showing his aggression and started taking one after another points, making the score to 6-2, from which the return seems impossible. Akhil did manage to put the right punch at the end, but it was far too late as Gojan sealed the victory by 10-3.

All hopes now rest on Jitender Kumar and Vijender kumar who have won their respective quarter final boxing event in style. Our prayers and best wishes go to both of them.

At the Olympics, Akhil has had the toughest draw to the quarter-finals, beating the world champion Sergey Vodopyanov in the 2nd round and Frenchmen Ali Hallab in the first round. Coming from a very humble background, Akhil has turned out to be an inspiration for millions of people; his journey to the Olympics glory is different from that of Abhinav Bindra, India’s lone individual Gold medalist so far. Both the stars share the same level of grit, determination and will, however that’s where the similarity ends, while Bindra has lot of mullah to give him the best training money can buy, Akhil has to train at the basic training facility for Pugilists located in Bhiwani, Haryana; also Akhil Kumar is a class 4 employee of the Railways going about earning his daily livelihood whereas Bindra is a rightful heir to his father’s business ranging from hotels to food processing unit. With due respect to Abhinav Bindra’s gold medal; if Akhil had managed to win the Gold medal, his achievement would have been certainly ranked higher given the lean infrastructure/training support he had to deal with.

Akhil kumar had much at stake for this match, apart from the expectations of this fellow citizens, he was out there to prove himself, to do something for his motherland which will be cherished and remembered for the time to come. He knows that he is an inspiration to other fellow boxers like Jitendra Kumar, himself, in the running for the medal and wants to ensure that his achievement opens up a new chapter in Indian sports.

We salute Akhil for his feats at the Beijing Olympics and hope the sport authorities help him get better facilities so that we can make him ready for 2010 Commonwealth games and 2012 London Olympics Event.

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