Akhil Kumar

New Delhi: The winning run of Indian boxers came to an end on Saturday when all four pugilists lost in the semi-finals of the AIBA World championships in Moscow.

All four Indians, however, are assured of a bronze medal each.

While Jitender Kumar succumbed to Cuba’s Pan American gold medallist Hernandez Lafita 14-6 in the flyweight section, bantamweight boxer Akhil Kumar dished out a fine display before going down narrowly to Olympic silver medallist Yankiel Leon Alarcon in the countback system.

Akhil was distinctly unlucky to lose to the Cuban boxer but said he was happy to come this far. “My aim was to reach the final. I couldn’t do it. But I did my best. Technically, the Cuban is a highly competent boxer,” said Akhil from Moscow.

Pitted against one of the best boxers in the meet, Akhil started cautiously and stayed at par against his fancied opponent throughout the bout. The duo were levelled 2-2 at the end of Round Two but the Cuban gained a slender 4-3 lead in the third round.

Not to be outwitted, Akhil recovered to draw level in the final round and did not allow the Cuban to throw a punch at him.

But to Akhil’s bad luck, Lafita was declared the winner in the countback system, in which the points given by all the five judges are taken into account. The system is only applied when there is a deadlock at the end of the bout.

“I think I performed creditably,” said Akhil. “You can’t do anything when you lose in the countback system,” he added.

Jitender, who led 4-2 in Round One only to lose way in the next three rounds, said a sudden rush of blood in Round Two cost him dear.

“I allowed the Cuban four points in the second round. That proved to be the turning point.”

In the 57kg featherweight semi-final, Anthresh Lakra went down 3-6 to Idel Torriente, also of Cuba.

In the light-heavyweight section, Dinesh Kumar retired from the contest after the second round against Russia’s Artur Beterbiev. Dinesh had been trailing 1-10 then.