Vijender storms into quarterfinals in Asian Games

Wed, Nov 17 10 07:52 PM

Guangzhou, Nov 17 (PTI) Star pugilist Vijender Singh saved the best for the last round to outpunch Yu Ting Yang of Chinese Taipei 9-4 and storm into the 75kg quarterfinals of the boxing competition in the Asian Games here today. World number one Vijender, who got a first round bye, was finding hard to break into his opponent''s defence initially and was trailing 1-2 at the end of the second round before running away winner with a flurry of punches. The lanky Indian, who won bronze in the 2006 edition in Doha, showed his class in the third round by taking eight points against two by his unheralded opponent. There were some anxious moments in the Indian camp in the first two rounds when Vijender was finding it hard to break the tall Chinese Taipei boxer''s shell guard. Vijender scored his first point at the dying moments of the first round with an upper cut but the Chinese Taipei boxer came back strongly and scored two points in the second round to take a 2-1 lead, giving jitters to the Indian camp. The star Indian, however, settled the issue in the third round with a flurry of punches which left his opponent at the receiving end. He will take on South Korea''s Cho Deokjin in the quarterfinals. Vijender admitted he was finding it difficult to break his opponent''s defence initially and said he was under a bit of pressure after the second round. "My opponent tried to use his better height to his advantage by employing shell guard and I was finding a bit difficult to break it. Honestly, my heart beat was up after trailing in the second round," Vijender told PTI after his bout. "But once I did break his defence in the third round I was able to score freely," said the Olympic and World Championships bronze-medallist. Asked about his quarterfinal opponent, Vijender said, "I have fought against the Korean thrice earlier. I have beaten him twice and lost once." Earlier in the day, Vikas Krishan (60kg) advanced to the pre-quarterfinals after beating Thailand''s Saylom Ardee in his opening round bout. Suranjoy Singh (52kg) had also reached the pre-quarters yesterday. .

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