Boxam International Tournament: India's Satish Kumar, Ashish Kumar enter semi-finals

New Delhi: Olympic-bound Indian boxers Satish Kumar (+91kg) and Ashish Kumar (75kg) entered the semi-finals of the 35th Boxam International Tournament in Castellon, Spain with impressive victories. Also advancing to the last-four round was Sumit Sangwan (81kg) after a 4-1 triumph over Mohor El Ziad of Belgium. Satish, the first super heavyweight from the country to qualify for the Olympics, defeated Denmark’s Givskov Nielsen 5-0 in his last-eight bout late on Thursday. Asian silver-winner Ashish, on the other hand, got the better of Italy’s Remo Salvatti in a split 4-1 verdict to make the medal rounds. With this, the Indian representation in the semifinals touched 10 — six men and four women. Earlier on Thursday, Mohammed Hussamuddin (57kg) and the Tokyo-bound duo of Manish Kaushik (63kg) and Vikas Krishan (69kg) advanced to the medal rounds with impressive victories. However, world number one Amit Panghal (52kg) bowed out with a stunning loss to European Games gold-medallist Gabriel Escobar. Among the women, six-time world champion MC Mary Kom (51kg), Asian champion Pooja Rani (75kg), Simranjit Kaur (60kg) and debutant Jasmine (57kg) are in the last-four stage. Boxers from 17 countries, including Russia, USA, Italy, and Kazakhstan are participating in the event.