Olympic Boxing: Devastating Devendro romps into the Quarters

Minutes after Saina Nehwal won the bronze medal in Badminton, the Indian fans had more good news coming their way. Devendro Singh romped into the quarters finals of the London Olympics. Devendro Singh took on Serdamba Purevdorj from Mongolia in the round of 16 bout of the Men’s light flyweight (49kg) category. The diminutive Indian took to the Mongolian and demolished him by 16-11 point to seal a quarter final berth.

The 20 year old in his fiery red attire and eye catching yellow shoes began the bout from where he left in his last game. Devendro Singh unleashed himslef on the Beijing silver medallist and snatched the initiative from the very first minute. Serdemba had no answer to the Indian’s swift punching and delightful footwork. Devendro launched an all out attack and put the Mongolian to the ropes with his relentless jabs. The Mongolian, who’s seven years older to Devendro, lost the round comprehensively by 4-3 points.

The second round saw Devendro oozing with confidence. He switched his game to another level and landed great 1-2 combination punches to his more fancied opponent. He used his right hand like a trip hammer and even knocked down Serdemba once. As the round progressed the Indian gathered more points as he kept the Mongolian at his mercy by disturbing his head guard more than once. Serdemba tried to fight back with a few close body punches but the round was hands down won by the little Indian by 4-2 points.

Serdemba dropped his guard and tried to come after Devendro in the third round but that gave Devendro an opportunity to throw in a few more jabs to extended his lead. A superb left hand jab straight to the face sealed the game for the Pint sized powerhouse from India. Serdemba did his best to get back in the last 30 seconds of the round but Devendro displayed admirable defence to win the third round by 8-6 points.

Devendro was touted as the underdog in the bout as Serdemba is a silver medallist winner from Beijing and had experience on his side. Devendro however had other plans. Even in the first bout, he won rather emphatically against Molina Figueroa Bayron where the referee had to call off the fight within the first 3 minutes when the boxer from India knocked down his opponent twice in the first round. The diminutive boxer from India launched into an onslaught on the 19 year old Bayron and was leading 24:2 in the very first round when the referee called off the fight.

This win from Devendro makes him the second boxer from India to qualify for the quarter finals where he will lock horns with Ireland’s Paddy Barnes on the 8th of August.