Jitender, Diwakar lord in the ring

Doha, Dec 3 (UNI) The Indian pugilist duo of Jitender Kumar and Diwakar Prasad lorded it over their rivals to win their boxing bouts in the 51kg and 57kg categories in the 15th Asian Games here today.

Jitender beat Pakistani Nauman Karim 14-6 in the 51Kg and Diwakar tamed Syrian Mohammad Dmirieh 20-11 in his 57Kg category bout.

Jitender began with a bang, not allowing Karim to settle into any rhythm and raced to a 5-1 lead in the first round.

The Pakistani, however, fought back and matched up to his Indian rival in the second round which saw both the boxers levelled 3-3.

Jolted out of complacence, Jitender blanked his opponent 3-0 in the penultimate round and then quelled a late challenge and maintained a thin 3-2 lead in the final session to seal the issue.

Olympian Diwakar Prasad, however, found himself trailing 4-6 after the first round, before he raised his game and levelled it 3-3 in the second round.

Once he found his rhythm, there was no looking back for the Indian, who unleashed a flurry of punches that landed on the body of his Syrian rival who simply ran for cover for the remainder of the bout and Diwakar won the next two rounds 8-1 and 5-1 to show who is the boss.

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