India's Akhil Kumar (R) fights Russian world champion Sergey Vodopyanov in the men's bantamweight (54kg) round of 16 boxing match at the Beijing 2008 Olympics August 15, 2008.


India's medal hope is still one more fight away, yet Akhil Kumar’s patriotic win must rank as one of finest performances by an Indian in an Olympic boxing ring. The Haryana boxer gave India a perfect Independence day gift by knocking out World Champion Sergey Vodopyanov of Russia to move into the quaterfinal of the bantamweight (54 kg) category. With the crowd rooting for him, Akhil came back from a huge 2-6 deficit to level at 9-9 and then win the judges nod to edge out his pedigreed Russian rival, and current world champion, Sergey against whom even a loss would not have been a matter of shame.