Chicago, Nov 2: Anthresh Lalit Lakra, who became the first Indian pugilist to qualify for 2008 Beijing Olympics, surrendered tamely to Chinese Yang Li in the 57 kg quarter-finals of the World Boxing Championship here.

Lakra, who made the bus to Beijing by reaching the last eight round after outpunching Shahin Imranov of Azerbaijan on October 30, lost 6-17 in a one-sided bout at University of Illinois-Chicago Pavilion yesterday.

The Indian was no match to his far superior Chinese opponent and could not open his account till the end of second round by which time his opponent had taken a 6-0 lead.

Even if Lakra gave a semblance of a fight in the third round, it was too late and his opponent too fancied to pose any problem.

The Chinese was 13-4 ahead after the third round and Lakra could do little in the final round to save from bowing out of the Championship on a sour note.

Eight Indians had taken part in the Championship and seven had failed to reach quarter-finals -- a requirement for booking a berth for Beijing.

Jitender Kumar (51kg) and Jai Bhagwan (60kg) lost in the prequarter-finals, Vijender Singh (75kg) and Dilbag Singh (69kg) had exited in the second round while Balbir Singh (48kg), Jasveer Singh (81kg)and Suresh Singh (54kg) had crashed out in the first round.

More than 650 pugilists from 120 countries took part in the competition, making it the largest ever boxing championships.

UNI