NEW DELHI, June 21: Manjeet Singh assured at least a silver medal for India by entering the final of the men’s super heavyweight category (+91kg) at the third China Open boxing tournament in Guiyang.
The 21-year-old Indian pugilist defeated local favourite Wang Zhi Bao on split decision to enter the final in his very first international tournament.
Manjeet will be up against another local lad Akepeer Yusuf in the summit clash.
However, there was disappointment in store for other three Indian boxers – Sunil Kumar (52kg), Ajay Kumar (56kg), and Jaideep (75kg) – as they lost their respective semifinal bouts to crash out of the tournament layed under the new ‘Ten-Point must scoring system’.
The trio will now return home with a bronze medal each from the event.
While silver medallist in the inaugural edition of this tournament, Sunil Kumar lost to Chang Young of China in the semifinals of the men’s flyweight category, 19-year-old Ajay Kumar was shown the door by another Chinese You Lunhai in the last four round of the bantamweight division.
The other Indian in the fray, Jaideep lost his middleweight semifinal bout to another Chinese boxer, Chao Gejiletu. (PTI)
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