Athens: India's Akhil Kumar went down to former world champion and Sydney Games bronze medallist Jerome Thomas of France on points in the first round of the fly weight category in the Olympic Boxing competition in Athens today (Aug 17, 2004).

Kumar fought bravely but dropped his guard often to allow his more fancied rival to score points at will and lost 16-37.

Kumar tried to use the upper cuts against the Frenchman, who rarely let his guard drop, and lost the bout in which his rival clearly had the upper hand.

The Indian trailed 3-6 after the first round, which increased to 7-17 in the second. He was down by 16 points at the end of the third round.

Despite going on an all out attack in the final round and landing a few solid punches on the Frenchman's face and body he was clearly outpointed in the end.

The Indian challenge in the boxing ring has now dwindled down to one, Diwakar Prasad in the Bantam Weight class.

Two other boxers -- Jitender Kumar and Vijender -- had already been eliminated.