Three Indian boxers enter semis of Serbia Invitational

Commonwealth Games gold-medallist Paramjeet Samota (+91kg), Manpreet Singh (91kg) and teen sensation Shiva Thapa (56kg) notched up contrasting wins to enter the semifinals on a mixed opening day for Indian boxers in the Winners' International tournament in Belgrade, Serbia.

Samota, also an Asian Games bronze-medallist, beat Mongolian boxer, Davolkhagva Iderbat 25-10.

Asian Games silver medal winner Manpreet, on the other hand, got the better of Algeria's Bouloudinats Chou 15-12.

The 17-year-old Shiva, a silver-medallist from the Youth World Championships and a bronze-winner from the inaugural Youth Olympics last year, defeated Scottish boxer Joe Ham 5-1 to book a semifinal berth in the event where India has been invited for the first time.

However, there was disappointment for India as well with Manoj Kumar (64kg) and Kuldeep Singh (75kg) losing in the opening round.

While Manoj lost 1-3 to Munkhardene Uranch of Mongolia, Kuldeep went down 1-3 to local favourite Jovanovic Nikola.

In the semifinals, Shiva will meet Nagy Krisztian of Hungary, while Manpreet will face Pulev Tervel of Bulgaria. Samota will be up against Rygebayev Rustam of Kazakhstan.