Beijing, Aug 20: Indian pulgist Jitender Kumar lost to Russia's Georgy Balakshin, 15-11 in the quarterfinals of the Middleweight class, as the Indian contingent struggled to digest the disappointment of a missed medal in the boxing ring at the Worker"s Gymnasium here on Wednesday evening.

Russian took the first point and led 2-1 after first round. Balakshin consolidated his lead by earning three more points. Jitender bounced back to reduce it to 6-5 in the second round. Both of them went neck to neck in the second round as they managed five match points each. Balakshin kept the level of his game as he led 13-8 after the end of third round. Jitender got three more points but that was not enough to seal victory.

Earlier on Saturday, Jitender thrashed his Uzbek counterpart Tulashboy Doniyorov 13-6 to make it to the quarter-final of the 51kg event.

OneIndi News