Sumit, Sarjubala assured medals, Shiva in quarters

TIL Desk Sports/ Asian silver-medallist Sumit Sangwan (91kg) and World silver-medallist Sarjubala Devi (51kg) are among four Indian boxers assured of medals after scoring facile victories in the inaugural India Open, for men and women, in Delhi on Monday. Second seed Sumit defeated compatriot Virender Kumar 5-0, while Sarjubala Devi (51kg) and Pinki Jangra (51kg) advanced to the semis in the women’s competition of the US $100,000 event.

Heavyweight (91kg) top seed Naman Tanwar, who claimed a bronze at the World Youth Championships, made an impressive debut in the senior circuit, defeating Jordan’s Eishaish Hussein to enter the semi-finals and be assured of a medal.

Entering the quarter-finals with an easy win was top seed and three-time Asian medallist Shiva Thapa (60kg), who produced a calculative performance to defeat Bhutan’s Dorji Wangdi in his opening clash. He will face Uzbekistan’s Sherbek Rakhmatulloev.

Another impressive winner on the day was National champion Manish Kaushik (60kg), who came up with a spirited show to defeat Cuba’s Rabi Armando Martinez. Top seed Sarjubala assured India their first medal of the day when she beat Kenya’s Christine Ongare 5-0.

The diminutive Manipuri, who is a World Championships silver-medallist was in aggressive mode from the first ring of the bell. Her hooks connected quite accurately, and she did well to back-paddle and thwart Ongare’s attempts at counter-attack.