The Indian challenge in the boxing arena came to an end on Friday when Diwarkar Prasad, the country's last pugilist in the fray, bowed out in the second round of the 54 kg bantamweight category in the 28th Olympic Games in Athens.

The referee stopped the bout in favour of Prasad's opponent, Nestor Bolum of Nigeria, in the third round as the Indian trailed by 20 points.

Prasad had a forgettable first round as he could manage only three points against Bolum's 12.

But the 20-year-old made amends in the second and looked like making a fight of it with some aggressive punching but the Nigerian still managed to increase his lead with the 13-10 round verdict.

The start of the third round saw Bolum go on the offensive and earn as many as eight points in no time to take the score to 32-12, a lead of twenty points.

At this point the referee stopped the bout in favour of the Nigerian to bring down the curtain on the Indian show in the roped square.