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A disastrous day for Indians

By Our Special Correspondent

BUSAN Oct. 9. The Indian hopes of a medal from the boxing events of the 14th Asian Games vanished on Wednesday, despite the presence of four pugilists in the quarterfinals.

At the Masan gymnasium, the Indians cut a sorry figure as none of the four could even make an impact before losing out to their respective rivals. This would be the first time in many years that India would be returning without a boxing medal.

The poor show prompted the National coach, Gurubux Singh Sandhu to take full responsibility over the debacle. ``I take full responsibility for this poor show, '' the coach said.

Ramanand lost to Rusland Mussinov (Kazakhstan) after having started off on a positive note. As the bout progressed the Kazakh continued to attack with gusto.

Mussinov had a six-point lead by the end of the second round and though Ramanand did bring it down to five in the third, there was no stopping the Kazakh who was in full flight by then. A thirteen-point difference separated the two light weight (60 kg) rivals.

Sanjay Kumar, pitted against South Korea's Kim Jung-Joo, was outclassed in the first round itself of the welter weight (67 kg) category. Unable to stand the barrage of right and left punches by the Korean, Sanjay was knocked down prompting the referee to stop the contest with just two seconds remaining for the conclusion of the opening round.

Having defeated Baurzhan Kairmenov (Kazakhstan) in their only meeting before, Jitender Kumar had given the Indian camp great hopes. But eventually as it turned out, the Indian was nowhere in the picture as the Kazakh sought revenge for the loss suffered against Jitender in the 2000 Sydney Olympic qualifiers.

Jitender boxed badly today with his punches lacking the usual strength. He was also to leave his guard wide open at times, helping in the process the Kazakh to cruise to an easy win. The Kazakh led his rival on all the four rounds of this middle weight category (75 kg) contest and the margin of his victory was 21 points (28-7).

Varghese Johnson looked as if he would smoothly sail the tide as he led his Syrian heavy weight (91 kg) rival, Naser Alshami by 8-1 in the first round. But for some inexplicable reason, Johnson sought to defend his lead in the second and that tactical blunder by itself was to cost him a possible medal. Alshami, given the opportunity, was quick to gain a clear upperhand before the referee intervened in his favour in the third round. A forgettable evening, indeed.

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