Vikas, Amit enters final

Strandja Memorial Boxing

The fast-rising Amit Panghal (49kg) along with Vikas Krishan (75kg) advanced to the final along with Seema Punia (+81kg) in the Strandja Memorial Boxing Tournament for men and women here.

Amit, a gold-medallist at last month’s India Open, defeated Russia’s Soian Artysh to make the summit clash where he will be up against Morocco’s Said Mordaji. In a fast-paced slugfest,

Amit, also an Asian Championship bronze-medallist, showed commendable ring craft to dodge his sprightly rival’s attacks. The Indian connected well on counter-attack and didn’t give Artysh a clear shot despite his perilously low guard.

Earlier, Asian Championships bronzemedallist Seema Poonia (+81kg) entered the finals, while two other women boxers settled for bronze medals.

In the final session late Saturday night, Seema, who got a bye into the semi-finals, defeated Bulgarian Mihaela Nikolova 5-0 to make the summit clash along with M C Mary Kom (48kg) among others.

Settling for bronze medals were World Championships silvermedallist Saweety Boora (75kg) and Bhagyabati Kachari (81kg). While Saweety lost to China’s Li Quian, Bhagyabati went down to Russia’s Mariia Urakova in a split decision.

Earlier Saturday night, former world and Asian champion L Sarita Devi (60kg) and M Meena Kumari Devi (54kg) had also lost in the semi-finals for a third-place finish in the event where five male boxers will be in action in the semifinals.