Vijender reaches semifinals

Vijender, the world number one in middleweight (75kg) division, has jumped a division for this event on an experimental basis and started off pretty well by beating Australian Jeremy van Diemen 18-6 in his opening bout. The 25-year-old took a 5-2 lead in the opening round before widening the margin to 10-3 in the next three minutes.

Indian women boxers also made a fine start to their campaign in the event with Pooja Rani (75kg) and Meena Rani (60kg) winning their opening bouts. Pooja defeated Scott Kaye 7-5, Meena had it easier as referee awarded the bout to her after her Indonesian rival Ramela Dina Adriana injured herself. Earlier, Akhil Kumar (56kg) had reached the quarterfinals.