Asian Elite Boxing: Sumit punches his way into semis; Lovlina, Parveen among seven Indian women to battle in Last-4

New Delhi: Indian boxer Sumit toiled hard to enter the semifinals at the 2022 ASBC Asian Elite Boxing Championships by earning a well-deserved 3-2 win against Thailand’s Borworn Kadamduan in Amman, Jordan on Monday.

Sumit, the current Thailand Open champion, got off to the best possible start in the men’s 75kg quarterfinals bout, courtesy his agility while dodging the opponent’s attacks and powerful attacking technique that gave him the upper hand in the first two rounds.

Kadamduan, however, managed to stitch together a late comeback in the final round but it wasn’t enough as the Indian clinched the thrilling bout by split 3-2 decision and also sealed his place in the Last-4. He will be up against the defending champion Jafarov Saidjamshid of Uzbekistan.

India’s guaranteed medal tally is now up to 11 at the on-going prestigious championships following Sumit’s triumph.

Meanwhile, the other two Indians in action–Sachin (71kg) and Lakshya Chahar (80kg)-exited after defeats in their respective quarterfinals bouts.

Sachin could not sustain the momentum from his previous win as he suffered a 1-4 loss against the 2018 Asian Games silver medalist Aslanbek Shymbergenov of Kazakhstan. Lakshya, on the other hand, lost to Uzbekistan’s Aslonov Odiljon by 0-5 margin.

Later tonight, Naveen Kumar (92kg) and Narender (92+kg) will take to the ring against Kazakhstan’s Aibek Oralbay and Iran’s Iman Ramezanpourdelavar respectively in their quarterfinals bouts.

Late on Sunday night, Amit Kumar (67kg), Monika (48kg) and Simranjit Kaur (60kg) bowed out of the competition after suffering defeats in their respective games.

The boxers will get a chance to rejuvenate and come back stronger to compete in the semifinals with tomorrow being a rest day. The competition has been witnessing the participation of 267 boxers from 27 top boxing nations.

On Wednesday, the Tokyo Olympic bronze medallist Lovlina Borgohain (75kg) and reigning World Championships bronze medallist Parveen (63kg) will be among seven Indian women pugilists to play their semifinals.

The other women boxers in action will be debutants Minakshi (52kg) and Preeti (57kg) along with Ankushita Boro (66kg), Saweety (81kg) and Alfiya (81kg).

–IANS