Asian Youth and Junior Boxing Championships: Vishwanath, Raman storm into semis

New Delhi: Indian boxers Vishwanath Suresh (48kg) and Raman (51kg) entered the youth men’s semifinals of the Asian Youth and Junior Boxing Championships in Amman, Jordan on Monday. Vishwanath got the better of Tajikistan’s Meroj Zoidov by a split 4-1 decision to secure his second successive medal at the prestigious continental championships. On the other hand, Raman outpunched Jordan’s Yazan Albitar in an impressive 5-0 win. Vishwanath and Raman will now take on Uzbek boxers Miralijon Mavlonov and Khujanazar Nortojiev respectively in the semifinals on Friday. Later tonight, five more youth boxers — Anand Yadav (54kg), Ayush (57kg), Rudra Pratap Singh (60kg), Vanshaj (63.5kg) and Anjani Kumar Mummana (67kg) — will fight it out in the quarter-finals. In the junior boys’ section, three Indian boxers, Jayant Dagar (54kg), Chetan (57kg) and Yashwardhan Singh (60kg) made their way into the last-four stage while Lovepreet Singh (50kg) exited after enduring a loss against Kazakhstan’s Bek Zholdasbek with an RSC verdict. While Chetan outclassed Iraq’s Murtadha Hamad by unanimous margin, Jayant had to work hard during his close 3-2 win over Pansher Aliakhmed of Kyrgyzstan. Yashwardhan was given a walkover by Kuwait’s Mohammad Alenzi. The prestigious continental tournament has been witnessing a strong competition in presence of 352 boxers from 21 countries including India, Iran, Kazakhstan, Mongolia, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan. The finals will be held on March 13 and 14.