Dinesh assured of medal, Vikas also wins in Asian Games Boxing

Fri, Nov 19 10 08:52 PM

S S Ramaswamy Guangzhou, Nov 19 (PTI) Commonwealth champion Dinesh Kumar became the second Indian boxer after Paramjit Singh Samota to assure himself of a medal at the Asian Games by advancing to the light heavyweight 81kg semifinals while two other teammates Vikas Krishan and Santosh Kumar Virothu also moved into the quarterfinals here today. On another satisfying day in the ring sport, the 23-year-old beat his rival 10-6 in a lop-sided bout during which Heo went off-balance several times due to the sheer power of the blows thrown by the Indian. Last evening, Samota had advanced into the semifinals of the 91+ weight category . The only Indian to lose so far in the ring was Chote Lal Yadav who suffered a reverse by losing his round of 16 bout against Asian championship bronze medallist Satoshi Shimizu 4-7 yesterday. Leading 5-2 in the opening round, Dinesh, the taller of the two contestants, showed good technique and never really allowed Heo to claw back despite the Korean''s several valiant efforts at countering the Indian''s power. Heo fought back well in the second round which was very close with Dinesh scoring some points with punches to the rival''s head. He won the round 3-2 as the Korean too got through Dinesh''s defense to earn valuable points. The good 8-4 lead taken by Dinesh stood him in good stead in the last round that saw both fighters going at each other with the intention to deliver the knock-out blow. It ended in a 2-2 stale-mate and piloted the Indian into the medal round too. Dinesh, who will lock horns with Nepal''s Deepak Maharjan in the semifinal, said he was eager to earn a medal here after ending without one in last month''s Commonwealth Games in Delhi. "At the Commonwealth Games I failed to win any medal, but I am confident of winning it here. I am feeling good and I am very excited. I just fought the way my coach told me to fight and I acted as per his plan," the boxer said. Vikas Krishan entered the 60kg class quarterfinals by overwhelming Amangeldi Hudabergenov of Turkmenistan 8-1 easily with his offensive approach. The Indian was the all-out aggressor from the first bell to pick up three points from the first round which he increased by another four with another impressive display in the second before taking it easy in the final round. Vikas, who will meet North Korean C S Kim in the semis, said he used his height advantage to good effect in the fight. "I used long range punches on my rival and that really worked," he said, adding he took it easy in the last round as he did not want to pick up an injury. "I was already leading with so many points and that''s why I became more defensive as I did not want to pick up any injury. So I avoided contact with my opponent," he said. (More) PTI SSR SHN

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