BANGKOK, Sep 1: Defending champion Shiva Thapa, second seed Vikas Krishan and the fast-rising L Devendro Singh booked medals and World Championship berths by advancing to the semifinals on a mixed day for India at the Asian Championships here today.
Devendro (49kg), a silver-medallist from the previous edition of the event, out-punched Cornelis Kwangu Langu of Indonesia 3-0 in his quarterfinal bout. Shiva (56kg), on the other hand, defeated Kyrgyzstan�s Omurbek Malabekov 2-1 in a bout which had to be stopped in the second round due to an injury to Malabekov. Vikas (75kg), a former World Championship bronze-medallist, eased past Vietnam�s Dinh Hoang Truong 3-0 in the evening session.
However, it was curtains for former Commonwealth Games gold-medallist Manoj Kumar (64kg) who lost 0-3 to Uzbek Fazliddin Gaibnazarov. Also bowing out was former Asian Games silver-winner Manpreet Singh (91kg).
Today�s wins assured all the three of a place in the October World Championships in Doha � the first qualifying event for next year�s Olympics.
Even Manoj and Manpreet have a chance of making the cut if their respective rivals manage to reach the final.
�All the three boys who won today were excellent in their performance. All of them have difficult opponents waiting for them in the next round but I am sure they have gained enough confidence to cause upsets,� national coach Gurbax Singh Sandhu told PTI.
�Even the boys who lost fought with a lot of heart and I am satisfied with the fact that they gave their best,� he added.
Starting the day for India was Devendro and the pint-sized dynamo from Manipur was his usual aggressive self, using his right uppercuts and hooks with precision in all the three rounds. � PTI
