India assured of two more medals at President's Cup boxing

Asian Games silver medallist V. Santosh Kumar (64kg) and Jasveer Singh (81kg) entered the semi-finals of the President's Cup boxing on Wednesday and assured India of another two medals at the event.

Gaurav Bidhuri (49kg) had assured India of at least a bronze by making it to the last four on Tuesday.

Santosh continue to ride on his purple patch as he notched up a splendid victory over local boxer Ardan Bachtila 15:7 in the quarter-finals.

Santosh, who is the reigning national champion, attacked from the word go and took a quick 5:1 lead in the first round. Bachtila covered some ground in the second but Santosh came back in the third to seal the issue. His next clash is  with Masatsugu Kawachi of Japan.

Jasveer defeated Olympian Mohammad Shourain of Iran 20:12 in his quarter-final bout. After the opening three minutes the scores were tied at four all. Jasveer took a one-point lead to make it 8-7 after the second. But the final round saw the Indian make short work of his opponent, amassing 12 points against Shourain's five. He will now take on Commonwealth Games quarter-finalist Damien Hooper of Australia.

However, it was a bad day at the office for Chhote Lal Yadav (56kg) as he lost to China's Xu Bia Xiang in a thrilling contest. Chhote Lal, who was leading after the second round, could not benefit from the lead and lost the advantage. The Chinese boxer came back strongly in third and won 14:13 by a slender one point lead.

"The boys fought really well, especially Jasveer. He displayed exceptional prowess in the ring. Chhote Lal too put up a good fight unfortunately he finished up on the losing side," said coach Jagdeep Hooda.