Press Trust of India
Qian’an (China), March 28: World Championships bronze medallist Shiva Thapa (56kg) and Commonwealth silver medal winner L Devendro Singh (49kg) provided the spark to the Indian men’s boxing campaign by advancing to the quarterfinals of the Asian Olympic Qualifiers here Monday.
Shiva, seeded top in his category, outpunched Korea’s Myeongkwan Lee 3-0 to enter the last-eight stage while fourth-seeded Devendro defeated Malaysia’s Mohd Redzuan Muhamad Fuad Bin by a similar margin. However, Gaurav Bidhuri (52kg) lost to Japan’s Ryomei Tanaka.
In the last bout of the day, Commonwealth Games silver medallist Mandeep Jangra (69kg) went down tamely to Thailand’s Saylom Ardee 0-3.
The victories by Shiva and Devendro lifted the morale of the Indian team, which had suffered setbacks in the past two days of competition including the shock loss of second seed Vikas Krishan (75kg) in the opening round.
There were no women’s bouts on the day as the quarterfinalists were decided Sunday night. From India, MC Mary Kom (51kg) and L Sarita Devi (60kg) have made the last eight stage.
The continental qualifiers have 30 Olympic berths on offer for men and six for women.
