Men’s World Boxing Championships: Sanjeet, Akash Kumar advance to pre-quarterfinals

Belgrade: Indian boxer Akash Kumar (54kg) made the pre-quarterfinals of the AIBA Men’s World Championships after his German opponent Omar Salah Ibrahim fell ill and gave him a walkover here on Friday. Akash will face Puerto Rico’s Pagan Caleb Tirado in the last-16 stage. His bout was to open the day’s proceedings for India. “His opponent did not show up for the weigh-in this morning as he was sick. Something like what happened to us in Varinder Singh’s case. In that case, we suffered, today we gained,” India High Performance Director Santiago Nieva told PTI. Varinder had to pull out of his 60kg category bout due to high fever but he tested negative for COVID-19. Late last night, Akash Sangwan (67kg) recorded a confident 4-1 victory against German pugilist Daniel Krotter to also enter the pre-quarterfinals. The 21-year-old will square off against Cuban boxer Kevin Brown. Later this evening, Asian champion Sanjeet (92kg) will take on Russia’s Andrei Stotskii, followed by Nishant Dev (71kg) squaring off against Mauritian Merven Clair. Both of them would be looking to secure pre-quarterfinal berths. On Saturday, five-time Asian medallist Shiva Thapa (63.5kg) will be in action alongside three other Indians. Thapa will fight Sierra Leone’s John Brown in the round of 32. Sumit (75kg) will take on Tajikistan’s Abdumalik Boltaev, while Sachin (80kg) will open against American Robby Gonzales. Both these bouts are also round of 32 contests. Govind Sahani (48kg) will compete in the pre-quarterfinals against Georgia’s Sakhil Alakhverdovi. The gold winners at the showpiece will walk away with a prize money of USD 100,000. The silver medallists are to be given USD 50,000, and both bronze-medallists will be awarded USD 25,000 each. The total prize purse stands at a whopping USD 2.6 million. India are being represented by its reigning national champions across weight categories.