Devendro through to last-16, Manoj loses in Asiad boxing

Commonwealth Games silver-medallist L Devendro Singh (49kg) entered the prequarters after getting a walkover but Manoj Kumar (64kg) bowed out with an opening round loss on a mixed day for Indian boxers at the Asian Games here today.
Devendro, a 2013 Asian Championships silver-medallist, was declared the winner after his opponent -- Fahad Albathali of Kuwait -- failed to turn up for his bout.
Later, Manoj, a 2010 Commonwealth Games gold-medallist besides being an Asian Championships bronze-medallist, lost 1-2 to Japan's Kawachi Masatsugu.
In a bout which hardly had any clean punches, the Indian and his rival were locked in a battle of attrition.

Kawachi was slightly tidier of the two in the first two rounds before Manoj made a good comeback in the final three minutes.
Even though Kawachi seemed exhausted after the opening round itself, Manoj failed to capitalise in the second round, struggling to connect clean hits on the Japanese, who very tactfully fought from a long range.

However, in the final round, Manoj raised his game and came up with some powerful hooks to unsettle an increasingly battle-weary Kawachi even though the effort came too late.
The Indian got unlucky when he was warned by the referee for ducking too much even though both the boxers seemed equally guilty of the offence.

Kawachi, in fact, lost his balance on more than one occasion while trying to dodge Manoj.
Tomorrow, four Indian boxers will be in action in their respective last-16 round bouts. Shiva Thapa (56kg) will take on Nadir of Pakistan, followed by Kuldeep Singh (81kg) fighting it out against Anavat Thongkrathok.
Akhil Kumar (60kg) will be up against Filipino Charly Suarez and Amritpreet Singh (91kg) will square off against Korean Park Namhyeong.