By Chetan Sharma

New Delhi, Aug 17 (IANS): As Indian boxer Ashish Kumar (75kg) landed in his home town Sundar Nagar, Himachal, he first visited the boxing academy, where he used to train, and apologised for not being able to perform well at the Tokyo Olympics.

Ashish's maiden Olympic appearance ended with an opening-round loss to China's Erbieke Touheta.

"I felt bad that I failed to deliver in Tokyo. But I am back to my routine training and leaving no stone unturned to get myself ready for future competitions. My target right now is the World Championship in October," Ashish told IANS.

"I lost in the opening bout so...it was really painful. But yeah, being in the Olympics is itself a big thing and hopefully next time, I will win a medal too. If I talk about my bout, I was very attacking, the defence wasn't good, so that was the reason I lost. Lesson learnt now and started working on the weaknesses," he said.

The 27-year-old former Asian silver-medallist further expressed his joy of meeting Prime Minister Narendra Modi and attending the Independence Day celebrations at the Red Fort.

"This is something which motivates the athletes. Such recognition is so helpful. I want to thank the government for supporting us. I will work harder now and make my country proud," he added.