Melbourne: Akhil Kumar plundered Bruno Julie to grab the gold in the 54 kg bantamweight category of the boxing competition in the Commonwealth Games here on Saturday.

The Bhiwani-born boxer, who turns 25 on Monday, gave himself an early birthday present as he began confidently from the time he entered the ring. He won the fight 20-12, despite a late fightback from his Mauritian opponent.

Indian Olympic Association president Suresh Kalmadi presented the gold medal to Akhil Kumar.

The other two Indian finalists in the competition, Harpreet Singh (91 kg) and Vijender (69 kg) lost in the finals and ended with a silver each.

Earlier two other Indian pugilists — Varghese Johnson (91+ kg) and Jitender Kumar (51 kg) — had picked up bronze medals.

India's five medal haul — one gold, two silver and two bronze — is its best performance in boxing in any Commonwealth Games so far. The country's only other Games gold in boxing was earned by Mohammed Ali Qamar (48 kg) at Manchester in 2002.

Whirlwind start

Akhil began in a whirlwind manner, notching up a 6-0 lead in the very first round. But the Mauritian, taken aback by the Indian's over-aggressive approach, came back in the next and kept the margin down even though Akhil was still leading 11-4 at the midway stage of the bout after two rounds.

In the third round, Akhil took chances with his guard down and induced Bruno to attack him and won the round 6-4.

In the final round, Bruno went all out looking for the big punch as he was already 8-17 down. But Akhil, despite keeping an open stance, ensured there was no needless danger, quite obviously an instruction from his coaches in the corner.

Despite finishing 3-4 in the last round, Akhil won the fight overall 20-12.

Confidence personified

``Before I came here I knew I would win,'' Akhil said.

``I was confident I would win the bout. I dominated all three rounds and in the last round I had a sore left shoulder.''

Akhil said he was looking forward to the next Commonwealth Games in New Delhi in 2010 and added that he would stay on as an amateur fighter.

In the first of the three finals featuring Indians, heavyweight (91 kg) Harpreet Singh, who came through his last three rounds without going the full distance, lost to a painter-turned-boxer, Australian Brad `Hollywood' Pitt 10-25. The Australian is nicknamed so because of his famous actor namesake, the Hollywood star.

Harpeet had won his first two fights when the referee stopped the contests in the fourth and third rounds before the final bell.

In the 69 kg final, Vijender put up a good fight but the South African, Bongani Mwelase, handled him rather well. In a fight full of action as both boxers went for each other, the Indian kept up with his South African opponent in the first round and the two were going neck-and-neck at 4-4.

But it was in the second round that the African pulled away with a 12-8 card.

With the score 16-12 for Mwelase, the Indian made a valiant attempt in the third round, which was the only round he won at 9-8. But he ran out of steam in the final round, which the South African took at 9-5 and sealed the triumph at 33-26.

``Cricket is the lord of sport in my country and very few people are into boxing,'' Vijender said.

``This is good for boxing. Maybe there's some money for me now, but I want to hang on for the Beijing Olympics and the Delhi Commonwealth Games.'' — UNI

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