The Hindu : Sport / Boxing : Vijender advances, Nanao loses

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Monday, Sep 07, 2009
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Vijender advances, Nanao loses

New Delhi: Olympic bronze medallist and middleweight (75kg) top seed Vijender Singh started his campaign in style, beating Kazakhstan’s Azamat Belgibayev 14-8 to enter the pre-quarterfinals of the World boxing championships in Milan, Italy on Saturday.

However, Thokchom Nanao Singh became the fifth Indian boxer to crash out after losing to Thailand’s Pongprayoon Kaeo in the light flyweight (48kg) second round. The 18-year-old Asian silver medallist, competing in only his second senior international event, was outpunched 4-16 by Kaeo.

Vijender, the 23-year-old World No.2, who got a bye in the first round, was on the backfoot to start with and was trailing 0-3 in the first round but staged a remarkable comeback in the next two rounds.

He made it 9-8 in the second round before blanking his rival in the final round to finish 14-8.

“I am relieved and very happy. It’s great to start off with a win,” Vijender said.

National coach Gurbax Singh Sandhu lauded Vijender for changing his strategy well after the initial setback.

“Vijender started with counter-punching but Azamat managed to get three points with some rather soft touches. Then Vijender changed his strategy and became more aggressive,” Sandhu said. — PTI

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