Boxer Satish fought despite serious injury, says BFI president

Tokyo, Aug 1 Indian boxer Satish Kumar, who lost to world No 1 Bakhodir Jalolov of Uzbekistan in the quarterfinals of the mens super-heavyweight boxing, played with a serious injury with 13 stitches above his eye and on his chin, Boxing Federation of India (BFI) president, Ajay Singh revealed on Sunday.

"Satish was seriously injured with 13 stitches above his eye and on his chin. That he still decided to fight against the No 1 boxer shows his courage and patriotism. Not many will take blows for their country like Satish did today. We are very proud of him," Ajay Singh was quoted as saying in a tweet by BFI.

Satish is the first heavyweight boxer from India to qualify for the Olympics.

He got injured during his pre-quarter final win against Ricardo Brown of Jamaica at the Ryogoku Kokugikan Arena here. The 32-year-old was given medical clearance to fight in the quarterfinal in the morning.

Jalalov was very strong and attacked frequently, landing punches on the target. Satish hung in there and counter-attacked but his opponent's defence was too strong and thus could not get past it. He made many attempts to score but couldn't clinch the result in his favour.