The 26-year-old Vijender fought gallantly but was foundwanting against his strong Uzbek opponent Abbos Atoev who carved out a 17-13victory in a nerve wracking contest at the ExCel Arena here tonight.
After M C Mary Kom romped into the semi-finals of thewomen's 51 kg category earlier in the day, the spotlight was on Vijender toassure India of at least another bronze medal but that did not materialise asthe Indian bowed out of the competitions much to the dismay of millions of Indiansupporters.
The exCel arena was packed with flag-waving Indianspectators who lustily cheered vijender the moment he stepped onto the ring andthe decibel level increased after every bout.
Vijender, a bronze medal winner in the Beijing Olympic Gamesfour years ago, just could not raise the tempo when it mattered the most as hisUzbek rival intelligently fended off his punches and launched counter attacks.
The Indian, who had carved out a hard-fought 16-15 victoryover Terrell Gausha of the USA in the quarter finals on August 2, begancautiously and was quite content in gauging the strategy of his Uzbek opponentin the first round which ended 3-3.
Spurred on by the vociferous crowd which kept chanting"India, India", Vijender began the second round well with a barrageof left and right punches which left the Uzbek dazed.
But he showed tremendous character to regain his composureand peg the Indian back with his deadly left punches.
Atoev turned the table in his favour in the second roundwhich he won 7-5.
In a desperate to make amends in the third and final round,Vijender went all out on the attack. But in the process, he allowed hisopponent to consolidate his position a little bit as he left his guard openand, and though he landed a few punches, it was not enough to give him a clearlead. As a result, the the third round ended with 7-5 scoreline.
Vijender, a former world number one, adapted a moreattacking strategy in the third and final round but the Uzbekistan boxer wasequal to the task as he fended off the punches deftly and counter attackedfiercely.
As the two boxers waited for the result, the Indian crowdwent silent as the Uzbek was declared the winner.
Atoev will now take on second seeded Ryota Murata of Japanin the semi-finals to be held on August 10. Murata defeated Adem Klucci ofTurkey 17-13 in the quarter finals.
