Hamburg: Wildcard entrant Gaurav Bidhuri became Tuesday only the fourth Indian boxer ever to secure himself a medal in the World Championships after he defeated Tunisia’s Bilel Mhamdi to enter the semifinals of the mega-event here. Gaurav prevailed in a split decision in the bantamweight (56kg) quarterfinal contest to make the last four stage.
“It is so surreal. I was a wildcard entry and now I am a medallist. Everything has happened so quickly for me, my brain will take some time to process all this,” Gaurav stated after his match. The other Indian boxers to have won medals in World Championships are Vikas Krishan (2011), Vijender Singh (2009) and Shiva Thapa (2015). But they have all settled for bronze medals and it remains to be seen if Gaurav can better them on that.
“I am going to create bigger history now by winning a better medal than bronze. I have been dealing with a back problem for the last eight months, (but) somehow kept going and finally I have been rewarded, it is just so overwhelming right now,” said Gaurav, who will face American Duke Ragan in the semifinals Thursday.
But there was slight disappointment as well for the contingent when Amit Phangal (49kg), another impressive debutant in the event, bowed out in the quarterfinal stage.
The Asian Championships bronze-medallist went down to Olympic champion and second seed Hasanboy Dusmatov of Uzbekistan in an unanimous verdict, ending what has been a fine campaign for the 21-year-old.
Gaurav took the ring and was on the offensive from the word go. He had his opponent on the ropes on more than one occasion with his combination punches and also left him with a cut on his forehead in the opening round. It went from bad to worse for Mhamdi after he ended up getting a warning for failing to keep his head up in the second round.
The Tunisian, despite his bloodied face, upped the ante in the final three minutes and delivered some good right hooks but Gaurav had done enough by then to seal the issue in his favour.
Press Trust of India
