Vijender moves closer to gold

“The gold in Germany came before the Beijing Olympics and whatever the tournament is,a gold is a gold in the end. The gold in Kazakhstan set things for me for another gold and I am bit unlucky to have missed gold after that. Agar medal ka rang peela ho toh hamesha acha lagta hai (If the colour of the medal is gold,it always feels nice). I am playing in front of the home crowd and I want to make it count,” said Singh,who will now face England’s Frank Buglioni,who plays for club Repton in England and has been in fine form in the British domestic scene. It was Singh’s second straight win through RSC (referee stops contest) and the 24-year-old Bhiwani boxer was leading by 4-0 after the end of the first round before building a huge 8-0 lead. “I was concentrating hard on my right punch and I was able to land my straight punches also. Selumani was aggressive in the beginning,hence I was back-pedaling and I counter-attacked initially. Frank is very quick on his feet and has a good range as well. I have to work on the accuracy of my left punches to dominate,” said Singh.

Singh’s neighbour in the NIS Hostel in Patiala,Dinesh Kumar also steamrolled past Leonard Machichi of Tanzania with a 8-1 RSC outclassed win,while compatriot Suranjoy Singh won 4-0 over Andrew Selby of Wales.

Results: 52 Kg: Suranjoy Singh (IND) bt Andrew Selby (WAL) 4-0,Oliver Lavigi (MRI) PD Suresh (SRI) 3-1,75 Kg: Frank Buglioni (ENG) bt Nathan McEwen (NZL) 10-2,Vijender Singh (IND) bt Selemani Kidunnda RSC OL 10-1,81 kg: Callum Johnson (SCO) bt Rodney Prosper (MRI) 7-2,Dinesh Kumar (IND) bt Leonard Machichi 8-1 RSC OL,91kg: Simon Valily (ENG) bt David Alona (NZL) 10-5,Elly Ajowi (KEN) bt Stephen Simmons (SCO) 9-3,+91kg: Joseph Parker (NZL) bt Frazer Clarke (ENG) 7-3,Paramjit Samota (IND) bt Ross Henderson (SCO) 5-2.