Strandja Memorial Boxing: Narender enters quarterfinals; Shiva Thapa gives walkover after illness

Later tonight, three women boxers will be in action as Simranjit (60kg) will take on Australia’s Danielle Scanlon, while Arundhati Choudhary (75kg) will face Catilin Parker of Australia.

File Photo: The super heavyweight (+92kg) clash between Narender and Congo Gerlon of Ecuador went down to the wire with the Indian eventually sealing the win. | Photo Credit: Special Arrangement

Asian championships bronze medallist Narender Berwal defeated Congo Gerlon of Ecuador in a thrilling contest to move into the men’s +92kg quarterfinals at the 74th Strandja Memorial International boxing tournament in Sofia on Wednesday.

Narender edged past Gerlon after securing a 3-2 verdict.

Three-time National champion and former Asian bronze medallist Varinder Singh (60kg) lost 5-0 to Abdumurodov Dilsoh of Uzbekistan.

Sumit (75kg), another Asian bronze medallist, went down 4-1 against Rami Kiwan of Bulgaria.

Former World championships bronze medallist and six-time Asian medallist Shiva Thapa (63.5kg) couldn’t take the ring due to fever and gave a walkover to his opponent Malik Hasanov of Azerbaijan in the pre-quarterfinals.

Late on Tuesday night, 2021 World youth champion Sachin Siwach Jr. (54kg) defeated Henrik Sahakyan of Armenia 4-1 to reach the quarterfinals.

Akash Sangwan (67kg) beat Bulgarian Rosen Markov 5-0. However, Sahil (80kg) bowed out after losing 5-0 to Vladimir Mironchikov of Serbia.