Krishan was hailed as one of the boxing prodigies of the time when he was young, and his record and performances backed that claim.
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While the Indian contingent of the 2012 London Olympics was arguably the most successful one, the same cannot be said of the contingent in the following edition. After the brilliant performance of the Indian athletes at the London Games, fans were hopeful that it was finally time for India to rise in the sporting world through consistently impressive performances at The Games. There was a lot of hype and expectation ahead of the 2016 Rio Games, but unfortunately, the overall performance of the nation was just not as good. Several athletes were favorites to bring home a medal for the country, but a number of them failed to do so. Boxer Vikas Krishan Yadav was one of the few athletes who came close to winning a medal but fell short in the end.
Krishan was hailed as one of the boxing prodigies of the time when he was young, and his record and performances backed that claim. He hails from Bhiwani district in the northern state of Haryana. The state is famous for the number of top-quality athletes in contact sports like boxing and wrestling it has produced over the years. Krishan was no different. He displayed exceptional skill and poise in his sport and garnered several fans over the years. The athlete has hung up his boots and currently works for the Haryana police department as the DSP.
If one wants to understand why Krishan was seen as one of the favorites to win a medal at the 2016 Rio Games, they just need to look at his record in competitions over the years before that edition of the Olympics. He won four international medals in 2010, three of which were gold. Regardless of the competition, that, in itself, is an incredible feat. In 2011, the boxer won the bronze medal at the World Amateur Boxing Championship.
The following year, Krishan made his debut at the Olympics. However, it was not one he would fondly look back at. In the welterweight pre-quarterfinal, the Indian had initially defeated USA’s Errol Spence Jr 13-11. While the nation was over the moon with the 19-year-old’s nail-biting victory, news later came from amateur boxing’s governing body (AIBA) that after an appeal from the Americans, the decision was overturned. Notably, the decision was communicated five hours after the bout, and understandably, Krishan was frustrated and gutted.
Krishan knew that he had to make a strong comeback in the sport and keep his good run of form going. That, however, is easier said than done. The decision in the 2012 Olympics clearly had a devastating effect on him, and understandably, his form at the time dropped for a bit. Krishan did not win anything major in 2013, but 2014 saw him get his rhythm back. The boxer won the bronze medal at the Asian Games that year where he was beaten by Zhanibek Alimkhanuly of Kazakhstan in the semi-finals. The last major prize he bagged before the 2016 Games was the silver medal at the 2015 Asian Boxing Championship. The Indian had all the momentum he could hope for leading up to the Rio Olympics.
Krishan qualified for the 2016 Olympic Games after winning the bronze medal at the Olympics qualifiers that were held in Baku that year. He defeated the USA’s Charles Cornell by a unanimous decision to progress to the grand stage. His brilliant performance at the qualifiers meant that he would start the Olympics campaign from the round of 16 stage.
The boxer had to face a formidable foe in Turkey’s Onder Sipal in his first bout of the Games. The experienced Krishan did not have much difficulty in seeing off the Turkish boxer. He won the match 3-0 to qualify for the quarter-finals of the competition. By this point, fans back home were getting excited. There was a lot of pressure on Krishan to win a medal for the country, and that is expected from a boxer of his caliber. What might have added even more pressure on Krishan was the fact that he was the only Indian left in the sport that year with a chance of winning a medal. If he was to get knocked out, India’s entire boxing team would be out of the Olympics. Shiva Thapa and Manoj Kumar were knocked out earlier.
Ultimately, it was the pressure that got to him in the end. Krishan was beaten comfortably by Uzbekistan’s Bektemir Melikuziev, spelling the end of India’s hopes of getting an Olympic boxing medal. The first round ended with the Indian scoring a 9, 9, 9 compared to all 10s for Melikuziev. The second and third rounds were not any better as the Indian could score only 9, 8, 9 in both, while Melikuziev bagged 10s from each judge. At the end of the match, the score was 3-0 in favor of Melikuziev and Krishan had to fly back home empty-handed.
