Race to the top: All you need to know about Vikas Krishan's wins and achievements

Vikas Krishan is one of the fiercest boxers in the Indian contingent for Tokyo 2020 and is the undisputed champion of the 69kg in the country. He bagged the silver medal at the Asian Boxing Olympic Qualifiers held in Jordan in March 2020 and sealed a Tokyo 2020 berth for himself.

On April 20, 2019, he appeared in his first professional bout at the Turning Stone Resort and Casino, in California and beat Steven Andrade 1-0 in a technical knockout. His next fight was at the popular Madison Square Garden, in New York where he won the fight 2-0 against American boxer Noah Kidd.

But the desire to win an Olympic medal brought him back to the amateur circuit and he will be in action against Mensah Okazawa on Saturday. However, there is hardly any major event where he has not finished on the podium. Let us have a look at some of his most notable achievements so far:

Asian Games

Krishan finished with a gold medal at the 2010 Guangzhou Asian Games. In the first round, he thrashed Sailom Adi 8-1 to reach the Round of 16. There he faced Turkmenistan's Amangeldi Hudanbergenow and he won by a similar scoreline. He was nimble on the feet and his punches were packed with power.

In the quarter-finals, he beat North Korea's Kim Chol-song 4-2 to set up a semifinal clash with Uzbekistan's Hurshid Tojibaev. In a one-sided fight, he demolished his opposition 7-0. But in the finals, he was given a tough fight by China's Hu Qing. But he kept his patience and composure to frustrate the Chinese international and edge him out 5-4.

In the 2014 Incheon Asian Games, he finished with a bronze medal. In the quarterfinals, he beat Uzbekistan's Normatov Hurshidbek in the 75kg category to ensure at least a bronze. But in the semifinals, he went up against then world champion Zhanibek Alimkhanuly of Kazakhstan and lost by a split verdict of 2-1.

In the 2018 edition of the Asian Games, he had to settle for another bronze after he had to withdraw from the competition before the semifinals with a serious eye injury sustained in the quarterfinals.

Asian Championship

In the 2015 Asian Championship, he won the silver medal after losing to Uzbekistan's Bektemir Melikuziev in a brutal final which left both the boxers with several cuts and injuries on their faces.

Krishan started the match with his preferred shell guard approach whereas Melikuziev's fearless use of right hooks and jabs won over the judges. Although the Indian tried to go on the offensive in the next two rounds, the speed of his opponent's punches did not allow him to make a comeback.

He lost the match 2-0. In spite of the defeat, coach Gurbax Singh Sandhu heaped praise on him.

"Vikas performed exceptionally well and it's quite disappointing that he could not win," he stated.

He won two more bronze medals at the Asian Championships in 2017 and 2021 respectively. In March, he lost to top seed and defending champion Baturov Bobo-Usmon of Uzbekistan in the semifinals after the referee had to stop the contest as Krishan's eye injury sustained in the previous round opened up once again.

Commonwealth Games

Krishan became the first Indian male boxer to win an Asian and Commonwealth Games gold when he finished at the top of the podium at Gold Coast Australia. In the finals at the 75kg weight category, he beat Dieudonne Wilfried Seyi Ntsengue of Cameroon by a 5:0 unanimous verdict.

World Championship

After winning the AIBA Youth Boxing Championship in 2010, he won bronze in the World Boxing Championship in the Welterweight category. Krishan was on a rampage in the initial rounds beating the likes of Asadullo Boimurodov and Magomed Nurutdinov with ease. But in the quarterfinals he had to face a tough challenge against Vasili Belous of Moldova. In a closely fought match with no boxers willing to forsake an inch, the fight got bloody and brutal. In the end, the Indian won by a scoreline of 9-8. In the last four, he clashed against Taras Shelestyuk of Ukraine and went down 15-12 after making a slow start.