Thapa leads charge,four boxers advance

Both the boxers are just two wins away from not only securing a medal but also booking a berth in the World Youth Olympic Games in Singapore to be held in August-September. Earlier on Tuesday night,Asian youth champion Naveen Kumar outclassed Serbia’s Boris Skapik.

Naveen will take on local favourite Vatan Huseynli on Thursday. However,it was the end of the championship for Asian youth silver medalist Devendro Singh Laishram who suffered a stunning 4-8 defeat against Naoya Ique of Japan in the light fly weight (48kg) in the second round of the championship.

Devendro,who was the first boxer to take the ring for India on Wednesday,was tied 1-1 with his rival in the first round but Ique dominated the next two rounds to notch up a comfortable victory.

In the second bout,Bhaskar dominated the proceedings right from the start of the bout and took a 6-1 lead in the opening round of the championship. He widened the gap in the next two rounds.

After leading by 9-2 at the end of first two rounds,Bhaskar added three more points to his tally in the final round to seal the bout in his favour. Bhaskar will now face Algeria’s Reda Benbaziz in the third round,who defeated Czech Dusan Chromy in his second-round bout. Shiva’s bout was a close affair in the beginning.

The Assamese teen was locked 1-1 with Ashfaq in the first three minutes but that was to be the only time he allowed his rival to connect a scoring punch. The counter-puncher,who got a bye in the first round,made it 3-1 in the second round before closing it with just one point in the last three minutes. Shiva,India’s first gold medallist at the prestigious Hyder Aliyev Cup for juniors,will now face Swede Rejen Raza Abdulrahman. In another bout,India’s Vikas Krishan thrashed Slovakia’s Rajcsanyi Patrik 7-0 in 60kg category.