Vijender assures India a medal in boxing

Doha, Dec 8 (UNI) Giving a daredevil display, Vijender outscored Turkmenistan's Shukuralla Atajanov in the quarterfinal of the middle 75kg category bout to assure India a boxing medal in the 15th Asian Games here today.

As per the rules of the sport, there is no fight for the third place and the losing semifinalists are awarded a bronze each.

However, two others Indians in fray, Sanjay Kolte Kisan and Harpreet Singh, lost their quarterfinal bouts.

Twenty-one-year-old Vijender meets Kazakhstan's Bakhtiyar Artayev in the semifinal. The Indian was at his ferocious best as he took on Shukuralla and pounded him all over with powerful blows.

Shukuralla was not allowed any quarter by the aggressive Indian and the loser ran for his life all over the ring.

Vijender followed him like a hungry tiger and pounced on him with such deadly jabs that Shukuralla virtually threw in the towel and looked like pleading mercy from referee.

The Indian won the first round 14-3 and the second 12-3 when referee S Maneekhem of Laos stepped to stop the contest.

''I was determined to win and I attacked from the very start.

There was no use of being defensive and my tactics paid off in the end,'' the jubilant Indian said after the bout.

However, in the 48kg category, Sanjay Kisan Kotle crashed out as he lost to China's Zou Shiming.

Shiming gave Sanjay a very harrowing time before referee Berikbol intervened to stop the bout. The Chinese won the first round 12-2 and the next 9-3 and was leading 4-0 when the bout was halted.

In the heavy 91kg quarterfinal, Harpreet Singh Naser lost to Al Shami of Syria on points. The Indian conceded too many points to his rival in the second round and paid the price.

It turned out to be a bizarre bout with the Indian winning the first round comfortably but after that the Syrian managed big points on silly mistakes by his rival. Harpreet lost 6-2, 5-20, 5-12 and 6-6.

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