NEW DELHI, March 6: National champion Bhaskaran Venkatesan bit the dust without much of a fight, while other Indians in the senior section, including Birju Sah and Srinivas Rao moved into the semi-finals of the Coca-Cola New Delhi YMCA Boxing Championships at the Jai Singh Road here today.The credit for ousting Bhaskaran, younger brother of top Indian boxer V. Devarajan, went to Japanese Chtani Eijiro, who won a 5-0 unanimous verdict for his courageous bout in the feather weight category.Combining with his sharp left-right, the Japanese outwitted the Railway boxer, who had claimed the title at the Ambala nationals just a month and a half ago. Despite being short, Eijiro landed a couple of straights on the face to unsettle the Indian. By the end of the third round the Japanese had seized a lead of 6-3 but in the next two, which saw a flurry of upper cuts and left hooks, he collected seven points to seal the fate of the Indian, who just about managed another three points.The bout in fly category between Sah and Rakib Anand of Malaysia was a closely fought one but the experienced Indian won 4-1, particularly the last two rounds seeing him through.True to their tradition, most of the Thai boxers made it a one-sided affair by clinching semi-final berths by outclassing their opponents. Japanese Tooru Ono bowed out after three warnings as the referee disqualified him against Ashok Kumar Panwar in welter class. The Indian escaped with just one warning in the second round.
