Asian Games boxing: Five Indians stay in gold hunt; bronze for four

GUANGZHOU - Five Indian boxers stayed in the hunt for gold medals while four settled for the bronze at the Asian Games here Wednesday.

Vikas Krishan (60kg), Santosh Kumar Virothu (64kg), Vijender Singh (75kg), Dinesh Kumar (81kg) and Manpreet Singh (91kg) assured themselves of atleast a silver medal as they booked their place in the title clash after winning their respective semifinal bouts at the Foshan Gymnasium.

Suranjoy Singh (52kg) and Paramjeet Samota (+91kg) had to settle for the brone medal after their lost their semi-final bouts and in the women’s category five-time world champion M.C. Mary Kom (51kg) and Kavita Goyat (69-75kg) also suffered the same fate.

Vikas won 7-0 against Hurshid Tojibaev of Uzbekistan in the men’s 60kg semifinal while Dinesh defeated Nepal’s Deepak Maharjan in the semifinal of the 81kg.

Vikas started off well, taking a 3-0 lead in the first round and managed just one point in the second. In the final round, Vikas played defensively and scored three points from counter-attacking in the last one minute to stay in contention for a gold.

In the final, Vikas will face China’s Hu Qing, who beat South Korean Soon Chul Han 10-7 and Dinesh will be up against Uzbekistan’s Elshod Rasulov, who defeated China’s Meng Fanlong 12-1.

Santhosh outpunched Wuttichai Masuk of Thailand 5-1 to enter the final of the men’s 64kg. Santhosh led 2-0 after the second round and was 5-0 ahead in the third and the final round before Masuk pulled one back for his solitary point in the match at the Foshan Gymnasium.

Santhosh now takes on Daniyar Yeleussinov of Kazakhstan, who outclassed Uzbek Sanjarbek Rahmanov 6-0.

World No.1 Vijender earned a hard fought 10-7 win over Mohammad Sattarpour of Iran. Vijender, who had won the bronze four years ago at Doha, led 2-1 after the first round but the Iranian came back strongly in the second round to make it 4-5.

Vijender, a bronze medallist at the 2008 Olympics and the 2010 Commonwealth Games, didn’t give any chance to Sattarpour in the third and the final round where the Indian gained five points and won the bout to stay in the hunt for a gold.

In the final, Vijender will face Uzbekistan’s Abbos Atoev, who won 9-5 against Kazhakstan’s Danabek Suzhanov.

In the men’s 91kg, Manpreet thrashed Tajakistan’s Jakhon Qurbonov 10-2 for a place in the final, where he will face Syrian Mohammad Ghossoun.

Suranjoy Singh had to be content with a bronze in the men’s 52 kg after going down fighting 5-6 to China’s Yong Chang. The Indian trailed 0-3 in the first round, fought back in the second to trail 1-4 and rallied with an attacking game to level 5-5.

The Chinese pulled one off in the third and final round while Suranjoy failed to score despite desperate attempts as Yong showed good defensive skills to keep him at bay.

The men’s +91kg semi-final bout between Paramjeet and Zhang Zhilei had to be stopped by the referee in the dying seconds of the third round as the Chinese out-scored the Indian 15-3.

In the women’s section, India’s gold medal hope MC Mary Kom lost to Ren Cancan of China 7-11 in the semifinals and settled for a women’s boxing bronze.

Mary Kom, a five-time world champion, trailed from the start against Ren in the 48-51 kg category. Ren, the world champion in the 51kg, opened up a 3-1 lead before Mary Kom narrowed it down to 3-4 after the second round.

The Chinese, however, dominated the third round, scoring three points to Mary Kom’s 1 to move ahead. Ren was as good with her defence as she was with her attack and that frustrated Mary Kom, who desperately searched for a opening to land her punches. Ren, however, gave her no room and counter-punched with great effect to take the fight beyond the Indian.

Another Indian, Kavita Goyat, also settled for a bronze after losing her semifinals bout to Jinzi Li of China.

Goyat lost 1-5 to in the 69-75 kg weight category.

The Chinese opened up a 3-1 lead in the first round and added two more points in the fourth and final round, even as Kavita failed to score any point.