Strandja Memorial Tournament: Indian boxers Gaurav Solanki, Naman Tanwar advance to the quarter-finals

New Delhi: Commonwealth Games medal-winning duo of Gaurav Solanki (52kg) and Naman Tanwar (91kg) entered the quarter-finals of the 70th Strandja Memorial Boxing Tournament with contrasting wins in Sofia, Bulgaria. [caption id=“attachment_5731911” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] File image of Gaurav Solanki. Reuters[/caption] Gold Coast CWG gold-winner Solanki, taking to the ring within 24 hours of his first-round win, defeated Kazakhstan’s Anvar Muzaparov 3-2 in a hard-fought contest on Saturday night. The 19-year-old Tanwar, who claimed a bronze in Gold Coast last year, got the better of Poland’s Michal Soczynski 5-0 in a dominating performance. Solanki faces Uzbekistan’s Fayzov Khudonyazar in the last-eight stage. Khudonyazar defeated local hope Tinko Banabakov in his pre-quarterfinal bout, which was also ended in a split verdict. Tanwar, on the other hand, will be up against Ukraine’s Serhii Horskov. Horskov out-punched Serbia’s Darko Stankovic in his pre-quarterfinal contest to fetch a 5-0 decision from the judges However, it was curtains for Ulaan Baatar Cup gold-medallist Ankush Dahiya. Dahiya lost to Macedonia’s Jasin Ljama, the bout lasting just over a minute before the referee stopped the contest. Dahiya is also a former Asian youth silver-medallist. India’s best medal haul at this prestigious European event was last year when the country snared 11 in all, two of them gold.