Ulaanbaatar Cup: Devendro enters semis to confirm medal

Devendro Singh, who jumped to the flyweight category late last year, defeated Russia’s Dimitrii Yusupov to make the last-four stage of the tournament.

The victory will be a confidence booster for Devendro Singh, who jumped to the flyweight category late last year.

Commonwealth Games silver-medallist L. Devendro Singh (52kg) confirmed his first international medal of the year by advancing to the semifinals of the Ulaanbaatar Cup in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia on Thursday.

Devendro, who jumped to the flyweight category late last year, defeated Russia’s Dimitrii Yusupov to make the last-four stage of the tournament.

The triumph is a major confidence booster for the 23-year-old from Manipur, who missed out on the Asian Championships earlier this year after surprisingly going down in the trials. He had also lost early in the Strandja Memorial in Bulgaria and the King’s Cup in Thailand.

Rohit Tokas (64kg), another Indian, lost to Mongolia's Chinzorig Baatarsukh.

On Friday, five-time world champion M. C. Mary Kom (51kg), who got a bye into the quarterfinals, will begin her campaign against the winner of the bout between Russia’s Anna Aedma and Korea’s Chol Mi Bang.

In the men’s draw, Strandja Memorial silver-medallist Mohamed Hussamuddin (56kg) will face China’s Ma Xin Ming, while King’s Cup gold-medallist K. Shyam Kumar (49kg) will meet Enkhmandakh Kharkhuu of Mongolia in the last-eight stage.

Asian youth silver-medallist Ankush Dahiya (64kg) will also be squaring off against a Mongolian in Dulgunn.

Duryodhan Singh (69kg) will take on a Mongolian, too, in Byamba-Erdene Otgonbaatar.

Priyanka Chaudhary (60kg) will fight it out against Russian Aleksandra Ordina. Kalawanti (75kg) will also be up against a Russian, Liubov Iusupova. Both the Indians won their respective quarterfinal bouts on Wednesday.