Jitender qualifies for Olympics, gold for Vijender

Commonwealth Games bronze medallist Jitender Kumar (51kg) became the fifth Indian pugilist to make the cut for Beijing Olympics after winning the third-place playoff in the Asian Boxing Qualifiers in Astana, Kazakhstan on Sunday.

Jitender, who lost in the semi-finals on Saturday, defeated Philippines' Castro Godfrey 13-6 in the bronze medal play-off to book his maiden Olympic berth.

Meanwhile, Doha Asiad bronze medallist Vijender (75kg), who qualified for Olympics yesterday after winning the semi-finals, defeated Korean Cho Deok-Jin in the finals today to claim the gold medal and complete an all-conquering run in the tournament.

The Indians thus rounded off a commendable show at the final Asian qualifying event earning three Olympic berths through Jitender, Vijender and Dinesh Kumar (81kg) apart from bagging a gold, two silver and three bronze medals.

Jitender said he was nervous going into today's bout but a pep talk from his "mentor" Akhil Kumar, the Commonwealth Games gold winner who has already qualified for Beijing, over phone put him in the right frame of mind.

"I was very disturbed and could not sleep properly after losing the semifinal. Akhil called me and helped me get over the gloom. He also helped me strategise for today's bout," Jitender told PTI from Astana.

"I put my uppercut to good effect against Godfrey whose short frame also worked to my advantage," he added, summing up his performance in the ring today.

The third Indian Olympic qualifier Dinesh, however, ended his campaign on a losing note going down 10-16 to Ghorbani Mehdi of Iran in the final to settle for a silver.

But it was heartbreak for Dilbag Singh (69kg) who came agonisingly close to qualifying before a couple of warnings for dangerous play denied him.

Dilbag lost 11-16 to Turkmenistan's Bashirov Aliasker for a runner-up finish in his category in which only the winner is entitled for an Olympic quota place.

National coach Gurbax Singh Sandhu said Dilbag's loss was perhaps the only low point of an otherwise commendable performance by the Indians.

"Dilbag's loss was disappointing and it really broke our heart because he was fighting really well but the warnings that he got in the third and fourth rounds robbed him," Sandhu said.

"But overall I am very satisfied with the way our team performed. We were rated as one of the top teams of the tournament and a couple of boxers got standing ovations from the local fans which was very heartwarming," he added.

Praveen Kumar (+91kg) and Manoj Kumar (64kg) were the other Indian bronze medallists in the event apart from Jitender.