Beijing: Jitender Kumar out-punched Uzbekistan's Tulashboy Doniyorov in an ill-tempered bout to set up a tough quarter-final clash against three-time European champion Georgy Balakshin of Russia in the boxing competition's flyweight (51kg) category at the Olympics on Saturday.
The 21-year-old boxer, who is on his maiden Olympic trip, clinched the issue 13-6 to move into the last-eight stage and inch closer to a medal.
In a bout marred by frayed tempers, Jitender led all the way before rounding it off in style with a left jab. The Indian started confidently taking a 4-1 lead in the opening round and extended it to 5-1 at the of the second round.
Frustration began to show on Doniyorov in the third round and unable to connect punches, the 27-year-old Uzbek resorted to some wrestling inside the boxing ring.
The fury didn't do any good to his chances and Doniyorov was penalised two points for rough play as Jitender continued with his aggressive assault to stretch his lead to 11-4 by the end of the third round.
With Doniyorov letting his anger get the better of him, Jitender was in control of the proceedings but even he lost his cool in the beginning of the fourth round inviting a two-point penalty.
But that hardly made a difference to the final scoreline as Jitender stamped his authority with a combination of uppercuts and jabs, outmaneuvering his rival in tactics.
Following the good show by Akhil and Jitender, Haryana government announced a reward of Rs 25 lakh each for the two boxers.
The Asian Championship bronze medallist, however, now has a tough task at hand as he takes on Balakshin, to whom he lost in the 2007 World Championships in Chicago by just one point.
Balakshin beat Asian champion Mirat Sarsembayev of Kazakhstan 12-4 in the other pre-quarter-final bout earlier on Saturday.
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