Some months back, when Beijing Olympics quarter-finalist Jitender Kumar changed his category from flyweight (51 kg) to bantamweight (54 kg), fellow boxer Akhil Kumar had advised him to concentrate on being more attacking in the opening minutes of a bout. The tactic backfired for the Asian Boxing Championship silver medallist as Jitender was shown the door at the world championships in the first round on Wednesday after being given three warnings against Yunusov Anvar of Tajikistan. It was the third disappointment in two days for the nine-member Indian contingent after ABC gold medallist Suranjoy Singh and Manoj Kumar earlier lost their opening bouts on Tuesday.

“I was trying to get into an attacking mode early into the game, which, I guess, did not work for me. We all were keen to put Suranjoy’s narrow loss behind us, but getting that warning early in the game meant that I could not keep my composure in the next two rounds,” Jitender told The Indian Express.

Sixth seed Anvar was leading 17-7 when the bout was called off in the final round by the referee after Jitender was given the third and last warning for a right upper cut. Jitender had earlier lost to Anvar in the training-cum-competition event in May this year and was given the first official warning in the bout for clinching Anvar in the opening minute. Jitender tried to compensate by scoring two consecutive points before being warned again for “pushing and downing” Anvar in the second round.

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