Suranjoy fights his way to final

The Indian, who is competing for the Asia One team, beat his rival from the Americas Two team 10-4 in a lopsided bout.

The 22-year-old Manipuri will now take on Europe Two’s Nordine Oubaali, a Frenchman who got a walkover in his semifinal bout, in the final on Friday.

Suranjoy shunned aggression for caution in the opening round and preferred to counter-attack against an aggressive Avila, who is a pan-American Games bronze medallist. The strategy worked well as the Indian took a slender 2-0 lead in the first three minutes.

“It was a deliberate approach to be defensive to start with because the other guy was going all out. Suranjoy kept his cool and scored with some well-executed left straights and cross punches,” national coach Gurbax Singh Sandhu, who has been invited as one of the four coaches for the two Asian teams, said.

Suranjoy adopted a more aggressive approach in the second round and scored through some hard-hitting uppercuts to take his lead to 7-2.

The final round followed a similar script and the Indian continued to dominate to eventually clinch the bout 10-4. “I am thrilled to be doing well in such a prestigious event. Hopefully, I can win a gold,” said Suranjoy.