The Hindu : Sport / Boxing : Amandeep, Suranjoy make semifinals

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Amandeep, Suranjoy make semifinals

Abhijit Sen Gupta

PEGGING AWAY:Amandeep Singh (right) had little trouble against Malaysia's Fuad Muhammad winning 7-1 in their 49 kg quarterfinal.

NEW DELHI: Amandeep Singh and Suranjoy Singh were assured of medals as they won their respective quarterfinal bouts in the boxing competitions of the Commonwealth Games here on Saturday.

Amandeep was the first boxer to ensure a medal for India as he outpointed Fuad Muhammad of Malaysia 7-1 in the 49 kg quarterfinal. Amandeep began cautiously, clearly not wanting to jeopardise his chances in a crucial contest.

Fuad Muhammad from Sembilan, a Malaysian National Cup champion, had lost to Amandeep in the Commonwealth championships in March this year. After a barren first round, Amandeep stepped up the pace and earned one point midway through the second round.

Fuad in trying to counter Amandeep's aggression ended up committing a foul which gave Amandeep two more points. With three points under his belt Amandeep gained in confidence and attacked more vigorously to end the second round at 4-0.

In the third round Amandeep opened up, unleashing good left and right combinations which fetched him four more points and he ended up winning the bout with a comfortable 7-1 margin.

In the same category European champion Paddy Barnes of Northern Ireland also entered the semifinals with a 5-3 win over Andrew Maloney of Australia.

Later Suranjoy also bagged a semifinal berth with a 9-2 win over Mohammad Subrie of Malaysia in the 52 kg class.

Suranjoy was the shorter of the two and had to come in close to land his punches. It put him at a disadvantage but his ability to throw multiple combinations of punches made the going tough for Mohd. Subrie.

In the very first round Subrie was rattled by Suranjoy's rapid and accurate punching and the Indian led 3-1 at the end of the round. Suranjoy increased it to 6-1 at the end of the second round and eventually won 9-2.

In a pre-quarterfinal of the 91 kg class, Manpreet Singh chalked up a 10-2 victory over East African champion Haruna Mhando of Tanzania.

In a 56 kg pre-quarterfinal, Akhil Kumar got the better of his arch rival Iain Weaver of England 11-6.

The English boxer had beaten Akhil in the Commonwealth championships earlier but this time Akhil was in total command.

After a cautious first round, Akhil scored heavily with accurate punches which his rival failed to counter.

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