GAURAV BOOKS SEMIS BERTH AT WORLDS

Hamburg (Germany), Aug. 29: Wildcard entrant Gaurav Bidhuri on Tuesday became only the fourth Indian boxer ever to secure himself a medal in the world championships after he defeated Tunisia’s Bilel Mhamdi in the quarterfinals of the mega event here.

Gaurav prevailed in a split decision in the bantamweight (56kg) to make the last four stage, becoming the second from the country to do so in his debut world championship.

The only other Indian to have achieved the feat was Vikas Krishan, in the 2011 edition.

“It is so so surreal. I was a wildcard entry and now I am a medallist. Everything has happened so quickly for me, my brain will take some time to process all this,” Gaurav said after his triumph.

Besides Vikas, Vijender Singh (2009) and Shiva Thapa (2015) have been the country’s only other medallists at the marquee event of the sport.

But they have all settled for bronze medals and it remains to be seen if Gaurav can better them on that.

But there was slight disappointment as well for the contingent when Amit Phangal (49kg), another impressive debutant in the event, bowed out in the quarter-final stage.

The Asian Championships bronzemedallist went down to Olympic champion and second seed Hasanboy Dusmatov of Uzbekistan in an unanimous verdict, ending what has been a fine campaign for the 21-year-old.

Kavinder Singh Bisht is a bout away from winning India’s first medal at the event on Monday night. — Agencies