Tokyo Olympics: Satish Kumar storms into men’s 91kg quarters; Mary Kom ousted

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Satish Kumar (in red) in action against Jamaican Ricardo Brown.

Tokyo: Satish Kumar (91st) became the first Indian male boxer at the Tokyo Olympics to register a win after he downed Jamaican Richardo Brown 4-1 by a split decision on Thursday. Satish, who started his campaign in the pre-quarters, is just a win shy of winning a medal at the Games.

Earlier, Satish’s female counterparts Lovlina Borgohain (69kg) and Pooja Rani (75kg), have also made their way into the quarterfinals and are victory shy of finishing on the podium. Meanwhile, India’s star MC Mary Kom (53kg) played her last Olympics bout after she bowed out losing to the 2016 Rio Olympics bronze medallist Colombian Ingrit Valencia on Thursday.

In the process, Satish also became the first-ever Indian pugilist to win a super heavyweight bout in the Olympics history. The 32-year-old will now face Uzbek Bakhodir Jalolov in the quarterfinal on August 1.

The two-time Asian Championships bronze-winner, Satish took advantage of Brown’s poor footwork. The Indian continued with his right-hand punches on the Jamaican and waited for the opponent’s mistakes. Brown looked for that one big blow on the Indian but failed due to his slow-moving ability after hitting Satish.

A win that could have sent her closer to a medal assurance, the 2012 London Olympics bronze medallist, Mary Kom started on a backfoot as her rival started punching blows right from the outset. Valencia took advantage of Mary Kom’s slow cautious approach getting the judges’ nod in the first round.

The Indian regained her feet in the second but couldn’t stop Valencia’s attacking blows. The writing was on the wall for Mary Kom as she looked tired in the final round with Valencia continuously aiming for her opponent’s forehead and eventually packing Mary Kom’s journey at the Tokyo Olympics.

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