New Delhi:
Olympic-bound Indian boxers Satish Kumar (+91kg) and Ashish Kumar (75kg) entered the semifinals of the 35th Boxam International Tournament in Castellon, Spain with impressive victories.
Also advancing to the last-four round was Sumit Sangwan (81kg) after a 4-1 triumph over Mohor El Ziad of Belgium.
Satish, the first super heavyweight from the country to qualify for the Olympics, defeated Denmark’s Givskov Nielsen 5-0 in his last-eight bout late on Thursday.
Asian silver-winner Ashish, on the other hand, got the better of Italy’s Remo Salvatti in a split 4-1 verdict to make the medal rounds.
With this the Indian representation in the semifinals touched 10 — six men and four women.
Earlier on Thursday, Mohammed Hussamuddin (57kg) and the Tokyo-bound duo of Manish Kaushik (63kg) and Vikas Krishan (69kg) advanced to the medal rounds with impressive victories.
However, world number one Amit Panghal (52kg) bowed out with a stunning loss to European Games gold-medallist Gabriel Escobar.
Among the women, six-time world champion M C Mary Kom (51kg), Asian champion Pooja Rani (75kg), Simranjit Kaur (60kg) and debutant Jasmine (57kg) are in the last-four stage.
Boxers from 17 countries, including Russia, USA, Italy, and Kazakhstan are participating in the event.
