Thaindian News

New Delhi, Oct 2 (IANS) India’s Manoj Kumar (64 kg) and Dinesh Kumar (81 kg) Sunday entered the pre-quarterfinals of the World Boxing Championships at Baku, Azerbaijan, while Suranjoy Singh (52 kg) bowed out of the competition.

Commonwealth Games gold medallist Manoj was unstoppable in his 19:7 win over Raymond Moylette of Ireland.

Manoj kept a tight, close guard and attacked relentlessly right from the word go. By round one, Manoj had a slender lead of 5:3 pts. In round two, Manoj was smart enough to keep out of Raymond’s swinging punches which could have been quite lethal had they landed. He kept scoring valuable points, ending the round with a score of 12:4.

The Irishman started with all guns blazing in the final round, knowing that he had to score heavily to win the bout. But Manoj landed a perfect body blow on his opponent which had him holding his stomach and hitting the canvas with pain. The referee gave Raymond a mandatory count of eight and then resumed boxing. Raymond did try gamely to put up a fight after that but the writing was on the wall.

Manoj’s next opponent will be Chinese Hu Qing, who narrowly defeated Samir Machrouh of France.

Dinesh advanced to the round of 16 after his opponent Bosko Draskovic of Monte Negro was disqualified in the third round of the bout.

Both boxers traded equal punches from the start with Dinesh having a 5:4 lead. In round two, Dinesh stepped up the tempo and Bosko looked desperate to turn things around. He then started butting with his head and the referee gave him two warnings, giving Dinesh four additional points. Round two ended with Dinesh comfortably ahead with a score of 14:6. In round three, Bosko again fouled Dinesh with head butts and the referee correctly gave him a third warning leading to disqualification.

When the results were being announced, Bosko refused to come into the centre of the ring as a sign of protest against the decision. Dinesh will now meet Damien Hooper of Australia in the next round Tuesday.

Suranjoy’s defeat to Tugstsogt Nyambayar was a big disappointment of the day.

Suranjoy was never in his usual form against the Mongolian boxer and at the end of round one was trailing by 4:5. Suranjoy fought bravely in the next with his opponent getting a warning from the referee for ‘Holding’. The Indian was now Suranjoy was now leading 13:12. The third round, however, was a total catastrophe for Suranjoy as he walked into the Mongol’s punch midway and was given a mandatory count for a knock down. Subsequently, the Mongolian went on to win the battle 17:14.

Vikas Krishan (69 kgs) faces Nurudzinov Mahamed of Belarus later in the day.