Devendro, Laishram lead Indian pugilists' charge in youth meet

Devendro outpunched Dominican Republic’s Juan Gabriel Medina Herrad 17-8 in the light fly weight (48kg) opener.

Vikas, meanwhile, out-classed his Iranian rival Hamidreza Roomiani in the light weight (60kg) first round. The Indian was so dominant that the referee stopped the contest midway through the first round itself.

Sumit Sangwan, who won a silver medal at the Asian Championships last month, was equally dominant in his 14-1 triumph over David Bawa of Ghana in the first round of the light heavy weight (81kg).

The trio joins Manjeet Kumar (57kg), who had won his opener on Sunday, in the second round of the tournament, which is also a qualifier for the Youth Olympics scheduled in August-September in Singapore.

Manjeet beat Ireland’s Gholamreza Soozanizadeh 5-1 in a lop-sided bout. Manjeet will take on Moldova’s Dimitri Galagot in the second round on Tuesday. Apart from Manjeet, three Indians will be in action at the event on Tuesday. Asian champion Naveen Kumar (75kg), J Bhaskar (51kg) and Shiva Thapa (54kg) will open their campaign in an event which features over 450 boxers from 90 countries.

Only the semifinalists will make the cut for Youth Olympics and in some categories the draw is so crowded that a boxer will have to compete for at least four rounds before making the last-four stage. Kishan Thapa (69kg) fell at the first hurdle.  He  lost 2-5 to Georgia’s Nikoloz Sekhniashvili. He lost the battle in the opening round, conceding a 1-3 lead. He fought back to make it 2-3 in the second round but his failure to score a single point in the final three minutes sealed his fate.