Strandja Memorial Boxing Tournament: Indian pugilists Vikas Krishan, Amit Panghal enter quarter-finals

The seasoned Vikas Krishan and the fast-rising Amit Panghal advanced to the quarter-finals of the 69th Strandja Memorial Boxing Tournament for men and women, in Sofia, Bulgaria, on Wednesday. [caption id=“attachment_2421812” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] File image of Vikas Krishan.[/caption] Former World and Asian Games medallist Vikas (75kg), who is making a comeback after recovering from a hand injury, defeated Morocco’s Amer Gnifid to make the last-eight stage. World Championships quarter-finalist Amit (49kg), a gold-medallist from last month’s India Open, won his last-16 bout, getting the better of Mauritian Sharvin Kumar. Also advancing to the quarterfinals was Manish Panwar (81kg), who beat a Moroccan in Mohammed Amin. However, it was early ouster for veteran Manoj Kumar (69kg), a former Commonwealth Games gold-medallist. The 31-year-old went down to Morocco’s Abdelkabir Bellassek in his pre-quarterfinal bout, which was also his first of the tournament. India are assured of four medals so far in the tournament courtesy women boxers — Seema Punia (+81kg), Saweety Boora (75kg), Mena Kumari Devi (54kg) and Bhagyabati Kachari (81kg). While Saweety and Meena won their quarterfinal contests, Seema and Bhagyabati got byes.