Beijing: India's Akhil Kumar pulled off a huge upset on Friday in the boxing ring by upsetting 2007 world champion Sergei Vodopyanov of Russia to enter the quarter-finals of the bantamweight (54kg) in the Olympics.
Akhil had promised to fight his guts out and did just that with a stunning performance at the at the Workers' Gymnasium.
He was trailing 2-6 at one stage but made up the points with a stunning assault on the world champion in the last two rounds.
By the time the final round came around; the players were locked on points and it ended at nine-points all.
The judges then went on to tabulate the total punches landed and to the shock of the Russian, the Indian boxer was declared victorious.
The winner on points is decided by the jury by considering the accepted scores and deleting the highest and lowest scores of the two boxers.
Vodopyanov was inconsolable even as the Indian camp went into complete delight.
Akhil is now a strong medal contender after knocking out the Russian.
His next bout is on Monday and he has made it clear that he want to follow in the golden footsteps of India's first-ever individual Olympic champion Abhinav Bindra and go for the gold.
He will, however, be assured of at least a bronze if he wins his
quarter-final bout on Sunday.
"It's not possible to assure you of the gold but I can tell you that I'm here to win only gold. I know things would not be easier, in fact it would get even more difficult from now onwards. But I'm here to do my job and return with the gold. If luck decides the outcome, I may return with the bronze. But if confidence is the determining factor, gold is mine," he was quoted as saying by PTI.
India have two other boxers remaining at the Games. Vijender Kumar in the 75kg category and Jitender Kumar in the 51kg category. Both their pre-quarter bouts are on Saturday.
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