Asian Boxing Qualifiers: India's Vikas Krishan enters quarterfinals

Commonwealth Games gold-medallist Vikas Krishan (69kg) entered the quarterfinals of the Asian Olympic Boxing Qualifiers with a thumping win over Kyrgyzstan’s Nursultan Mamataly here on Friday.

Krishan clinched a 5-0 triumph to make the last-eight stage, where he will square off against third seed and Asian silver-medallist Sewonrets Okazawa of Japan. Okazawa, who won a gold medal at last year’s Olympic test event in Tokyo, defeated Taiwan’s Pan Hung-Ming in his pre-quarterfinal bout.

Krishan came into the event after claiming a gold medal at the South Asian Games in December last year. The SAG was his first amateur event after an undefeated stint in the professional circuit.

In a near-perfect display of his trademark defensive game, Krishan was consistently impressive. The Indian slowly built up the tempo and struck a particularly hard right hook in the second round to assert his dominance. The Kyrgyz boxer was left quite frustrated by Krishan’s control over the proceedings.

Read: All eyes on Mary Kom, Amit Panghal as they eye Olympic berth

Earlier, Sachin Kumar (81kg) advanced to the quarterfinals after notching up a comprehensive 5-0 win over Samoa’s Dee Iaopo.

A semifinal berth in the ongoing event would assure the competing boxers of a spot at this year’s Tokyo Olympics.

On Saturday, London Olympic bronze-medallist M. C. Mary Kom (51kg) and World Championships silver medallist and top seed Amit Panghal (52kg) will begin their campaign for a Tokyo Olympics berth.

Six-time world champion Mary Kom, who is the second seed, will face New Zealand’s Tasmyn Benny in her opening bout.

Panghal, an Asian Games and Asian Championships gold-medallist, will start his campaign against Mongolia’s Enkhmanadakh Kharkhuu after getting a first-round bye.

In another pre-quarterfinal bout, Commonwealth Games silver-medallist Gaurav Solanki (57kg) will take on top-seeded Uzbek Mirazizbek Mirzakhalilov. Mirzakhalilov is a reigning world champion besides being a gold medal winner at the Asian Games and the Asian Championships.