medal in the Bantamweight 54 kg category by edging out Nigerian Nestor Bolum and defeating Mauritian Bruno Julie in the final. He landed six unanswered blows in the opening round of the final. The second round was quite even, with Kumar winning 5-4. He did slightly better in round 3, winning it 6-4, and despite losing the final round 3-4, succeeded in avoiding the single punch that might have cost him the tie. 2008 Beijing Olympics and AIBA World Cup Kumar qualified for the 2008 Olympic Games, beating among others the silver medallist from the 2004 Summer Olympics, Worapoj Petchkoom, at the Asian boxing qualifying tournament in Bangkok. At the Olympic event, he made his way to the second round in the Bantamweight 54 kg category beating Frenchman Ali Hallab on points 12-5. In the round of 16, he beat World Champion Sergey Vodopyanov, coming from 2-6 down in the second round of the bout. The score was tied 9-9 at the end of the fourth round but the judges decided in Kumar's favor because he landed a greater number of punches. He lost 3-10 to Veaceslav Gojan of Moldova in the quarter finals on 18 August 2008. He was coached by the Indian boxing coach Gurbaksh Singh Sandhu. In the AIBA World Cup 2008 held in Moscow, Kumar beat Marcel Schinder of Germany in the quarterfinals with a margin of 15-6. In the semifinals the final score was a tie, 4-4, but this time, the judges awarded the match to his opponent. Kumar won a bronze. 2012 London Olympics Akhil Kumar was ruled out of the 2012 London Olympics; due to an injury he failed to reduce weight in time to take part in the Asian Continental Olympic qualification tournament, to be held in Astana (Kazakhstan) in April 2012. Awards Kumar received the Arjuna award in 2005. References External links One good 'punch' can change boxers' life: Akhil Kumar 1981 births Living people Indian male boxers Bantamweight boxers Olympic boxers of India Boxers at the 2004 Summer Olympics Boxers at the 2008 Summer Olympics Commonwealth Games gold medallists for India Commonwealth Games medallists in boxing Boxers at the 2006 Commonwealth Games Boxers at the 2010 Commonwealth Games Asian Games competitors for India Boxers at the 2006 Asian Games Boxers at the 2014 Asian Games Recipients of the Arjuna Award People from Bhiwani Boxers from Haryana People from Rohtak Medallists