India boxers Sanjeet, Akash Kumar enter pre-quarters

India boxers Sanjeet

Asian champion Sanjeet (92kg) defeated Russia's Andrei Stotskii in a thoroughly entertaining contest to enter the pre-quarterfinals, while Akash Kumar (54kg) got a walkover into that stage on a good day for Indians at the AIBA Men's World Boxing Championships here on Friday.

Akash advanced after his German opponent Omar Salah Ibrahim fell ill and gave him a walkover here on Friday. He will face Puerto Rico's Pagan Caleb Tirado in the last-16 stage. "His opponent did not show up for the weigh-in this morning as he was sick. Something like what happened to us in Varinder Singh's case. In that case, we suffered, today we gained," India High Performance Director Santiago Nieva told PTI.

Varinder had to pull out of his 60kg category bout due to high fever but he tested negative for Covid-19. Sanjeet put up quite a show in the 4-1 win over Stotskii, who was not a pushover by any measure. The Indian, however, was the more attacking of the two, at least in the first two rounds. Sanjeet displayed some flamboyance to go with his skills, dropping his guard completely to taunt Stotskii on more than one occasion.

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