JOIN US World Youth champion Thokchom Nanao Singh advanced to the finals along with two others but Olympians Vijender Singh and Jitender Kumar had to settle for bronze medals after semifinal defeats in the Asian Boxing Championships in Zhuhai, China on Friday.
Nanao (48kg), Suranjoy Singh (51kg) and Jai Bhagwan (60kg) were the country’s unlikely stars making the summit clash of their respective categories.
Apart from Vijender (75kg) and Jitender (54kg), Paramjit Samota (+91kg) and Dinesh Kumar (81kg) also settled for bronze medals after semifinal losses.
Nanao, making his senior international debut, beat Nyayambayar Tugstogt of Mongolia 15-7. Fellow Manipuri Suranjoy notched up a 4-2 triumph over Thai Ruenroeng Amnaj.
Nanao takes on Thailand’s Pongtrayoon Keaw and Suranjoy will be up against Li Hao of China in the finals.
Jai, meanwhile, beat Zhailuov Gani of Kazakhstan 7-2. He will face Turkmenistan’s Hudayberdiyev Serdar on Saturday.
Vijender’s 8-11 loss to local favourite Zhang Jianting came as a surprise as the 23-year-old Indian had been in brilliant form out-punching boxers from top countries like Uzbekistan and Kyrgyzstan in his previous two bouts. Vijender, who won a silver in the last edition, was leading by a point after the second round but a warning in the decisive third round, which cost him two points, proved disastrous.
Jitender, on the other hand, led 3-0 initially but lost the plot later, going down 4-9 to another Chinese Ma Yunhao.
Dinesh and Samota were, meanwhile, comprehensively beaten. While Dinesh lost 4-13 to Rasulov Elshod of Uzbekistan, Samota went down 1-15 to another Uzbek Abdullaev Sardor.
India had won five medals — a sliver and four bronze — in the last edition of the Asian Championships.
PTI