Boxer Deepak Kumar enters quarters in Bulgaria

Deepak Kumar

Asian silver-medallist Deepak Kumar (52kg) advanced to the quarterfinals with a facile win as Indian boxers got off to a mixed start at the 72nd Strandja Memorial Tournament in Sofia, Bulgaria. Deepak, also a 2019 India Open gold-medallist, defeated Kazakhstan's Olzhas Bainiyazov 5-0 in his opening bout to make the last-eight stage.

Other winners on Monday included Naveen Kumar (91kg) among men and Jyoti (51kg) in the women's draw. While Naveen defeated American Darius Fulghum in a close fight that ended 3-2 in his favour, Jyoti got the better of Ukraine's Tetiana Kob 4-1. However, Shashi Chopra (60kg), Lalita (69kg) and Sakshi (57kg) lost their opening bouts to bow out of the competition. Shashi was beaten 0-5 by Brazil's Beatriz Ferreira.

Lalita, on the other hand, lost to Uzbekistan's Navabakhor Khamidova by a similar margin. Sakshi went down in a split 1-4 verdict to American Andrea Medina. In the men's competition, Naveen Boora (69kg) and Ankit Khatana (75kg) have got byes into the pre-quarterfinals of the tournament. The tournament features boxers from 30 nations, including France, Ireland, Kazakhstan, Russia, Sweden, Ukraine, United States of America and Uzbekistan. India has sent a 12-member team for the prestigious event -- seven men and five women.

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