Jitender crashes out of Kazakhstan tourney

New Delhi:

Beijing Olympics quarter-finalist Jitender Kumar crashed out of a training-cum-competition boxing event in Almaty, Kazakhstan after losing by a point to Anvar Yunusov of Tajikistan in the last-eight stage of bantam weight division on Tuesday.

Jitender, who competed in the 51kg category in Beijing, lost 2-3 to his Tajik rival, who was also a fly weight boxer before going up a division. Yunusov, in fact, was a gold medallist at the first Asian qualifiers for Beijing Olympics.

"It was a closely contested bout. Both of us were attacking throughout but it remained 0-0 in the first two rounds. The final round could have gone either ways but unfortunately, I fell short by a point," Jitender said from Almaty.

Meanwhile, youth world champion T Nanao Singh (48kg) and Beijing bronze medallist Vijender Singh's cousin Balwinder Singh (64kg) and another Olympian Dinesh Kumar advanced to the second round after registering victories in their opening round.

India has sent a 10-member team for the event accompanied by coach Jaidev Bisht.