Asian Games boxing: Vikas, Dinesh in final; bronze for Suranjoy, Paramjeet

GUANGZHOU - Indian boxers Vikas Krishnan and Dinesh Kumar assured themselves of at least a silver as they qualified for the men’s final while compatriots Suranjoy Singh and Paramjeet Samota had to settle for the bronze at the Asian Games here Wednesday.

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 at the Foshan Gymnasium.

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.

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.