Reigning Asian champion Sanjeet stormed into pre-quarterfinals after defeating Russia’s Andrei Tsotskii in a second round match of the 92kg weight class at the 2021 AIBA Men’s Boxing Championships in Belgrade, Serbia on Friday.
India’s Akash Kumar also advanced into the pre-quarter-finals after he received a walkover in the 54kg opening round match against Salah Ibrahim of Germany.
In the closely-contested initial two rounds, both boxers went after each other and traded some heavy blows. However, the boxer from Rohtak, who defeated Rio Olympics silver medallist Vassiliy Levit to clinch the Asian Championships title earlier this year, kept his cool and not only showed a good defence technique but also struck sharp punches, according to information received here on Friday.
The 24-year-old Indian produced a well-composed performance in the final round to win the bout by a 4-1 decision.
On Saturday, four Indians will be in action — Govind Sahani will fight against Georgia’s Sakhil Alakhverdovi in the pre-quarterfinals match while Shiva Thapa (63.5kg), Sumit (75kg), and Sachin Kumar (80kg) will play their respective Round-of-32 matches.
Earlier, during the matches played late on Thursday night, youngsters Rohit Mor (57kg) and Akash Sangwan continued their impressive run in the tournament and registered dominant victories in their respective round-of-32 matches. While 20-year-old debutant Rohit outclassed Alen Rahmic of Bosnia and Herzegovina by a unanimous margin in the featherweight category, Akash recorded a confident 4-1 victory against German pugilist Daniel Krotter in the 67kg category.
Narender had provided India a winning start for the day by defeating Sierra Leone’s Mohamed Kendeh by RSC verdict in the +92kg round-of-32 match.
