Samota marches into semis

Samota took some time to settle down but shifted into top gear and threw some hefty blows in the second round to which his opponent had no answer. He finally pulled the rug from under Rambol’s feet with a blistering upper cut. Samota will face Fateh Singh of Jharkhand in the semifinals.

In the light flyweight division, 2009 Asian Championship silver medallist and Services boxer Nanao Singh also continued his winning spree as he thrashed P Raghvan of Tamil Nadu in a quarterfinal bout.

He now takes on Bahadur Singh Rana of Uttarakhand. But, it was curtains for National Games silver medallist Santosh Harijan of Goa. Harijan came up short against Sandeep Malik of Delhi.  In what was a see-saw battle, Sandeep triumphed over his more experienced opponent on points (7-6).

In the bantam weight class,  Shiva Thapa ousted S Santosh Singh of Manipur. Thapa, a gold medallist at the 2011 Belgrade winner tournament, amassed a three point lead in the opening round and held on to the advantage before winning the bout 9-5.  
Thapa will take on National Games bronze medallist V Durga Rao of Karnataka.