Previous District Amusements gold-medallist Manoj Kumar (64kg) and Sumit Sangwan (81kg) stood only one win far from making the cut for Rio Olympics subsequent to progressing to the quarterfinals of the Universal Boxing Affiliation's (AIBA) World Qualifying Competition, in Baku on Tuesday.
While Manoj showed signs of improvement of Bulgaria's Ismetov Ayrin Smetov 2-1, Sumit raged past Sandagsuren Erdenebayar of Mongolia 3-0.
Them two will need to win their quarterfinal sessions on Thuursday to be guaranteed of an Olympic billet.
Manoj was the first to take the ring and he revived to beat Ismetov in his pre-quarterfinal challenge.
The Indian battled back in the wake of losing the opening round against a forceful opponent.
"Manoj persevered through an exceptionally intense session however shockingly, he kept it together as well as battled back splendidly. His rival was a sharp puncher however he managed a cut in the second round which backed him off. Manoj exploited it and returned," national mentor Gurbax Singh Sandhu told PTI.
The previous Asian bronze-medallist will now face Tajikistan's Rakhimov Shavkatdzhon, who vanquished Bahrain's Williams Rashield in his last-16 phase challenge.
Sumit, then again, scarcely started to sweat to out-punch Erdenebayar in his prequarterfinal session.
Sumit will next be up against Russia's Petr Khamukov, who showed signs of improvement of Slovakia's Denis Lazer.
"Sumit battled with a considerable measure of smoothness. He connected his mind and ensured that he never got excessively near his rival. It was an extremely ruling execution by him," Sandhu said.
Late Monday night, previous Big showdowns bronze-medallist Vikas Krishan (75kg) likewise progressed to the pre-quarterfinals with a 3-0 win over Japan's Takahashi Makoto.
The Indian will face Georgia's Kvachatadze Zaal late Tuesday night.
The competition has 39 qualifying spots up for snatches — two in the 49kg classification, five each in 52kg, 56kg, 60kg, 64kg, 69kg, 75kg and 81kg, and one each in 91kg and +91kg.
More than 400 boxers from more than 100 nations are competing for these spaces in the last qualifying competition for novice boxers.
India have not sent any section in the 56kg class as Shiva Thapa has effectively met all requirements for the Rio Recreations amid the Asian qualifiers in Spring.
0 comments: