Hamburg, Aug 28:
Kavinder Bisht (52kg) and Gaurav Bidhuri (56kg) entered the quarterfinals with upset wins but Shiva Thapa’s quest for a second World Boxing Championship medal ended in a heartbreak here today.
Kavinder notched up a remarkable 3-2 victory over Algeria’s two-time world medallist Mohamed Flissi to make the last eight stage.
Gaurav Bidhuri (56kg) also advanced to the quarterfinals with an upset win over Ukrainian Mykola Butsenko. Both Kavinder and Gaurav are debutants at the mega-event.
However, Shiva, seeded fifth in the lightweight 60kg category, bowed out without exchanging a single blow, forced to give a walkover after being laid low by food poisoning and high fever.
Also making an exit from the tournament was Manoj Kumar (69kg).
The former Commonwealth Games gold-medallist went down in a split verdict to fourth-seeded Venezuelan Gabriel Maestre Perez.
However, Kavinder and Gaurav ensured that India had something to celebrate.
With Amit Phangal (49kg) already through to quarters,
The Delhi-boxer, who got into the event on a wildcard after missing out on automatic qualification, held his nerves and matched his Butsenko punch for punch in a thoroughly engrossing contest.
The two boxers attacked each other relentlessly and expectedly the judges came out with a split verdict in favour of the Indian.
However, third seed and 2011 World Championships bronze-medallist Vikas Krishan (75kg) was ousted after a second-round loss. He bowed out after being bested by England’s Benjamin Whittaker.
Also making an early exit was Asian silver-medallist Sumit Sangwan (91kg) who lost to Australia’s Jason Whateley in a split decision.
Krishan, the two-time Asian Games medallist looked sluggish against his 19-year-old rival, who has been nicknamed ‘The Future’ in his country for the potential he has shown.
Whittaker’s stronger legs helped him glide smoothly inside the ring, even as Vikas struggled to keep his balance after every attempted attack at the Englishman. (PTI)
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