'Wife said pull out but I wanted to fight': Satish on fighting Olympic QF with 13 stitches

It is extremely rare for a sportsperson to consider a defeat as one of the best moments of his career, but that was the case with Satish Kumar, who went down at the Tokyo Olympics in gruelling fashion. A worried wife did not stop the Indian boxer from competing at the highest level despite having 13 stitches on his face. After his defeat, Satish described how his wife and father wanted him to pull out of the quarter-final fight.

Satish Kumar graciously goes down in defeat

Despite sustaining two deep cuts on his forehead and chin, Satish Kumar decided to fight his next bout against Uzbekistan's Bakhodir Jalolov in the quarter-finals. After losing the fight, the 32-year old described to PTI that he was congratulated by people as though he had not won.

"My phone hasn't stopped ringing, people are congratulating me as if I won. I am on medication right now but I know how badly bruised my face is. My chin has seven stitches and my forehead has another six. Par marta kya na karta, I knew I wanted to fight. Otherwise, I would have lived with that regret of what if. Now I can be at peace and also probably a little content with myself that I gave my best," said Kumar.

Satish Kumar reveals wife was worried for him

After losing the fight, Satish Kumar revealed how worried his wife and father were for him. Satish said, "My wife had told me not to fight. My father also said that it is too much to watch me fight like this. That's not unexpected, family can't see you hurt. But then they understood that I wanted to do this."

Moreover, the Indian boxer revealed how his children also watched his gruelling fight when he went down in vain. "Yes they were, I have a son and a daughter (one in class I and other in class II) and they were both watching. I hope they felt proud," said the 32-year old. The Indian boxer has achieved several accolades during his boxing career as he is a two-time Asian Games bronze medallist and a Commonwealth Games silver-medalist. Indian fans will hope that the boxer is back stronger at the next Olympics in Paris.

(With PTI Inputs)