India's medal contenders Akhil Kumar and Jitender Kumar romped into the into the second round of the boxing events of the 15th Asian Games in Doha on Saturday, recording comfortable victories over their first round opponents.
Akhil, who won the sole boxing gold for Indian in the Commonwealth Games early this year, began his campaign by outpunching North Korea's Ju Hyok Kwak to win the bout with a 22-7 points margin bantamweight category at the Aspire Sports Complex.
Akhil adopted an attacking mode from the very beginning to unsettle his opponent with a flurry of punches and keep scoring points right till the end of round four.
The Indian pugillist opened up a lead after the first round and kept consolidating his position in the subsequent three rounds to emerge victorious withour really sweating much.
Akhil will now lock horns with Uzbekistan's Orzubek Shayimov who prevailed over Saudi Arabia's Ibrahim Manaa Al Bishi in the pre-quarter finals.
In the 54 kg category, Jitender was more ruthless has he carved out a 36-16 victory over Ibrahim Al Gharagir of Jordan to progress into the pre-quarter finals.
Jitender will cross swords with Pakistan's much heralded Nauman Karim, who beat Macau's Wai Tom Kang 28-14 on points.
It would be a tough ask for the Indian tomorrow as Karim is 2003 world championships bronze medal winner and Busan Asian Games silver medallist.
