Dingko Singh crashes out
in first round

Dingko Singh's hopes of retaining the gold medal he won in the bantamweight category at the last Asian Games were shattered as he suffered a crushing defeat at the hands of his North Korean opponent in the first round of the boxing event at the 14th Asian Games, in Busan, on Thursday.

Billed as a gold medal prospect before the team set out for Busan, Dingko seemed totally clueless against his North Korean challenger Phyong Chol Choe, who registered an emphatic 26-6 victory.

Dingko's first round exit has come as a big setback for the five-member Indian team which was hoping to return with a couple of medals.

The North Korean turned on the heat straightaway with a flurry of punches to unsettle Dingko and the Indian could never really recover from the early assault, conceding one point after another.

"I knew it was going to be difficult, but I din't think I would lose by such a margin. I am surprised myself," Dingko said after the bout.

Dingko, who had won the gold medal at the Bangkok Games in 1998, said he had hoped to restrict the margin of defeat to 15 points but it did not happen.

"He is a very experienced boxer and made good use of his experience today. He was much superior than me and it was always going to be difficult to get past him," Dingko added.

The Indian boxer was left trying to block the barrage of punches that were thrown at him and could not initiate any counter attack.

"I am disappointed by the way I lost. But it is a good learning experience. I should take it in that spirit," a dejected Dingko said.

With Dingko's premature exit, the task of collecting medals for the country will rest on Commonwealth Games gold winner Mohammad Ali Qamar, Som Bahadur Pun, Jitender Kumar and Harpal Singh, who will feature in their preliminary bouts from tomorrow.