Boxers Samota, Suranjoy advance at Asian Games

Paramjeet Samota assured India of a medal after punching his way into the semi-finals of the super heavyweight category while Suranjoy Singh survived a tense bout to book a berth in the quarters (flyweight) in the boxing competition at the Asian Games in Guangzhou on Thursday.

Samota, who got a first round bye in the nine-boxer +91kg competition, won a one-sided bout. A flurry of punches from Samota proved too much for his South Korean opponent Park Sungkeun, which forced the referee to stop the contest in the second round.

The Indian led 5-2 at the end of the first round and he continued in the same aggressive form by nearly knocking out his opponent with a right hook in the second round.

The South Korean struggled to recover but after another flurry of punches from the Indian, who was leading at 9-4, the referee stopped the contest midway into the second round and Samota was declared winner.

Samota will now face Zhang Zhilei of China in the semi-finals on November 24.

Suranjoy, on the other hand, had to earn every point against Kim Juseong of South Korea after registering an easy win in the opening round of the 52kg category on Tuesday.

The pint-sized Indian found it tough to score points and had to negotiate the desperate onslaught from his opponent in the last round before sealing the bout 8-6.

The Indian, who won a gold in the Commonwealth Games last month, led 4-1 at the end of the second round but found himself in a tight corner in the last three minutes, which saw the South Korean scoring five points as compared to four by Suranjoy.

Suranjoy faces Isakov Shahriyor of Uzbekistan in the quarter-finals on Saturday.

World number one Indian, Vijender Singh also entered the quarter-finals in the 75kg category and is now up against Cho Deokjin of South Korea.