Asian Games: Suranjoy books berth in pre-quarters

Suranjoy Singh gave a resounding start to India's boxing campaign at the Asian Games by entering the flyweight (52kg) pre-quarterfinals with a thumping win over Thailand's Chatchai Butdee in Guangzhou on Tuesday.

The 24-year-old Manipuri, who has won an astonishing seven international gold medals since April 2009, thrashed Butdee 7-2 in his opening bout at the Foshan Gymnasium.

Fresh from his seventh international gold at last month's Commonwealth Games in Delhi, Suranjoy was as usual sharp in his movement and dodged his rival's attempted attacks craftily.

In the opening three minutes, Suranjoy took a measure of his rival and in between notched up a point through a left hook to take the edge.

In the second round too, the Indian was not too aggressive and waited for Butdee to make the first move before striking hard on counter-attack to pocket two more points.

Butdee, a South East Asian Games gold-medallist, went for an all-out attack in the final three minutes but Suranjoy took full advantage of the Thai's dodgy defence to score through uppercuts and body punches.

"I didn't go all out in this fight. My body is always a bit stiff when I start out in a competition and it was the same today but in the end it was not too tough for me," Suranjoy said.

"I was slightly laid back in the final round and that is why I got hit twice, otherwise I would have kept a slate clean," he added.

Suranjoy will now be up against Juseong Kim of Korea who got the better of Kazakhstan's Miras Zakhupov 5-3 in his opening bout.

"I have recorded his bout and will work out a strategy with my coaches," Suranjoy said when asked about his next bout.

On Wednesday, two Indian boxers, including Olympic and World Championships bronze medallist Vijender Singh (75kg), will be in action.

World number one Vijender, who won a bronze medal at the 2006 Doha Asian Games, will take on Yu Ting Yang of Chinese Taipei.

World Youth champion Vikas Krishan (60kg) would be the other Indian boxer kicking off his campaign on Wednesday.

The 18-year-old, who won a bronze medal at the Youth Olympics in August, will be squaring off against Thailand's Saylom Ardee in his Games opener.

Ardee is a gold medallist from the prestigious King's Cup hosted annually by Thailand.