Asian C'ship boxing: Nine Indians punch their way into semis

Indian boxers came good on Sunday as they advanced to the semi-finals of the Asian Youth Boxing Championship in Tehran, Iran.

Junior World Championship bronze medallist Shiva Thapa was the lone disappointment. Thapa (54kg), a gold medallist from the prestigious Hyder Aliyev Cup last year, lost to local favourite Ehsan Sepahvand 0-6.

But that was to be the only setback for the Indian team as Venkat Giddi Nagarjun knocked out Afshin Albandi 2-1 in the 57kg category.

Harpal Singh (64kg) then got the better of China's Jhamin Wu 7-2 before Sumit Sangwan (75kg) outpunched Uzbek Hasanov Mirzobek 8-0.

Earlier, Devendro Singh (48kg), Srinivas Surbetti (51kg), and Vikas Kishan (60kg) won their quarter-final bouts on Sunday.

In addition, Naveen Kumar (81kg) had booked a semi-final berth after winning his bout on the opening day of the competition. Manoj Kumar (91kg) and Rajat Kaliraman (+91kg) got byes and moved directly into semi-finals.

All the semi-finals bouts are scheduled for Tuesday.