Commonwealth Games gold-medalist Manoj Kumar (64kg) and three others assured India of at least four bronze medals on Saturday at the Asian Boxing Championship by marching in to the semifinals of the tournament at Amman in Jordan.
In fact, Manoj won on a unanimous decision against Armi Khir of Malaysia. He will lock horns with Uranchimea munkh Erdene of Mongolia in the last-four stage on Sunday.
The other Indians who have crashed in to the semifinals are Olympians L Devendro Singh (49kg) and Shiva Thapa (56kg) and of course the fast-rising Mandeep Jangra (69kg), who won a gold medal few weeks ago at the Limossol Cup in Cyprus.To be frank, all three boxers, who are in their early 20s, are rising stars on the Indian boxing scenario.
Notably, Devendro won on a unanimous decision against Mirzakhmedov Nodirjon of Uzbekistan. Subsequently, he will face LV Bin of China.
On the other side, Shiva won a split decision against Li Lin Yen of Chinese Taipei. Now he will fight against Malbekov Omurbek of Kyrgyzstan. In addition, Mandeep won a split decision against Kosimov Nodirbek of Uzbekistan. His subsequent rival is Jargal Otgonjargal of Mongolia.
Unfortunately, Sukhdeep Singh (75kg) lost against Tajikistan’s Jafoev Navruz. The Punjab-boy lost on a split decision.
