Asiad: Indian boxers assured of bronze medals

The impressive show of the Indian pugilists continued at the Asian Games as Vikas Krishan and Manpreet Singh assured themselves of bronze medals in the men's ring and Preeti Beniwal scored a dominating win on the debut day of women's boxing at the mega sports event in Guangzhou on Sunday.

Relying on his solid defence, Vikas outsmarted Korea's Kim Chol Song 4-2 in the men's 60kg category to make his way into the semi-finals.

Manpreet, on the other hand, just about managed to beat his Chinese rival Maimaiti Zaifula 6-4 in the men's 91kg quarter-final bout.

Early in the day, Preeti gave India a rousing start in women's boxing by advancing to the 60kg quarter-finals with a thumping 8-2 win over Mongolia's Erdene Suvd Oyungerel.

Vikas, who took the ring first in the evening session, fought with impressive game plan and did not concede points till the third and final round.

The 18-year-old Youth Olympics bronze medallist kept his guard up and used his straight punches quite effectively.

He took a slender 1-0 after round one and made it 3-0 after the end of second round.

Anticipating defeat, the Korean went on offensive in the last round and managed to land two punches on the Indian. But Vikas was alert enough to not let his lead go and scored one more point to finally win 4-2.

Manpreet, a former national champion, on the other hand did not have complete control over his bout but three crucial punches in the second round helped his cause a lot.

The burly 21-year-old had created a 5-2 lead by the end of round two but lost his energy in the final round.

Zaifula, egged on by the crowd, fought aggressively and came out with some lightening fast punches and reduced the lead with two scoring punches. The Indian though scored another point to make it 6-4 and held the lead to come out victorious.

Earlier, Beniwal out-punched Mongolia's Erdene Suvd Oyungerel 8-2 in the pre-quarterfinals.

Beniwal, the sister-in-law of star men's boxer Akhil Kumar, will next face Thailand's Tassamalee, who blanked Sri Lanka's Niranjala Senanayake 8-0.

The Haryana-boxer took a sizeable 4-1 lead in the opening round and did not allow her rival to land a single scoring blow in the second and third round.

In the final two minutes, Beniwal picked up another couple of points to seal a comprehensive win.

On Monday, five-time world champion M C Mary Kom (51kg), who got a bye in the pre-quarters, will open her campaign against Chinese Taipei's Meng Chieh Ping.

Kavita Goyat will face off against Kazakhstan's Marina Volnova in the middleweight 75kg quarter-finals. All three Indian boxers are just a win away from assuring themselves of medals at the event.

Women's boxing is also set to make its Olympic debut at the London edition in 2012 after getting the International Olympic Committee's nod.