Akhil Kumar (left) during his bout against Veaceslav Gojan of Moldova in Beijing on Monday. (AP)

Beijing: Heartbreak time yet again. Akhil Kumar lost his 54kg bantamweight quarter final bout to Moldovan Veaceslav Gojan on Monday. But not before winning many a heart with his spirit and attitude. Though he failed to win India’s first boxing Olympic medal, he emerged every inch a hero.

After Gursharan Singh narrowly missed a medal in Sydney, Akhil flattered to deceive again.

Playing a defensive game on Monday, Gojan landed the first blow on Akhil which was probably a sign of things to come. Akhil managed to pull one back and they went to the breather at 1-1. After the second round, both were tied at 2-2.

Gojan showed that he was tactically superior in the third round as he never lowered his guard but still managed to land his blows.

Trying to induce Gojan, Akhil dropped his guard completely, fighting in the manner of a street brawl, but the Moldovan was not to be drawn out. The third round ended with Akhil trailing 2-6.

Akhil did not get points for a few early punches and once the Moldovan took the lead, the Indian just could not close the gap.

In the last round, Akhil went all out but to no avail. The Moldovan managed to win 10-3.

It is then that the never-say-die spirit of Akhil emerged. “I have no complaints, nothing to say against the scoring system or Gojan’s strategy. I guess I would have done the same and protected the lead had I been in his place,” Akhil said after the bout.

“Sure I am disappointed but haarne ka dum hain mujh mein,” he added. “In the final analysis, a win is a win and a loss is a loss. It was his day today, as it was mine the day I defeated world champion Sergey Vodopyanov of Russia.”

When asked whether he was a little short on confidence, the 27-year-old pugilist denied that was the case but added that if one was ahead in scoring, one is more confident.

“Boxing may be a four-round game but fortunes are made in the first two rounds. And once you manage to take a lead, it’s all about protecting it,” said Akhil.

“I think the scoreline could have been different in the first round and that could have been crucial for me. Still, I’m not the one to shed tears. My campaign is over but I will try to help Jitender and Vijender win their respective bouts,” Akhil added.

Far a good many years, people would just think of hockey when talking about Olympics in India and Akhil is proud of the fact that nowadays it is not so anymore, and that other sports are also coming into the limelight.

Cuban expert B.I Fernandez was extremely agitated with the scoring system, which he felt had denied Akhil vital points.

Coach G. S. Sandhu was equally upset with the outcome. “Akhil was connecting, but not scoring. I was baffled,” he said. Was he not satisfied with the scoring system? Making his displeasure evident, Sandhu said: “I’m not in a position to comment.”