CHENNAI: Indian boxers have been racking up wins to assure medals over the last few days or so in the ongoing Asian Boxing Championships in Amman, Jordan.
Under the watch of Indian coaches and new high-performance director, Bernard Dunne, the boxers, most of whom are fairly new to the international scene, have been making their presence felt. Sumit was the latest from the country to confirm a medal. However, he was thoroughly tested by his opponent on Monday. Up against Thailand’s Borworn Kadamduan, the 75kg boxer recorded a win by split verdict (3-2).
Sumit displayed his agility to have the upper hand in the opening two rounds. However, the bout was far from over. Sensing that he was trailing, Borworn threw the kitchen sink in the final round, closing the gap in the process. But he still managed to fall short. Sumit will be up against the defending champion Jafarov Saidjamshid of Uzbekistan in the semifinals. Narender (+92kg) joined Sumit in the last four after a 5-0 win over Iman Ramezanpourdelavar of Iran.
While Sumit and Narender advanced, Lakshya Chahar (80kg) and Sachin (71kg) and Naveen Kumar (92kg) fell short in their respective quarterfinal bouts. Tokyo Olympics bronze medallist Lovlina Borgohain (75kg), who posted a hard-fought win in the quarterfinals, will be among seven Indian women pugilists in action on Wednesday.
Men’s Worlds in May ‘23
In a presss conference in Dubai on Monday, IBA president Umar Kremlev confirmed that the men’s World Boxing Championships 2023 will take place in Tashkent on May 1-14. The prize money will be a record $5.2 million. The meeting was attended by Nikhat Zareen.