Doha International boxing: Five Indians in finals

Indian boxers continued to dazzle in the Doha International Tournament today with five of them, including Commonwealth Games silver-medallist L Devendro Singh (49kg), advancing to the finals of the event, which is part of the build-up towards the October World Championships.

Devendro got a walkover into the summit round after his Qatar rival Al Rafeek Yahea was declared medically unfit.

He was later joined by Gaurav Bidhuri (52kg), Shiva Thapa (56kg), Manish (60kg) and Manoj Kumar (64kg).

While Bidhuri defeated Hegazy Mostafa from Qatar 3:0, Shiva outpunched Mhamadi Bilel from Tunisia by a similar margin.

Manish toiled past Egypt's Mahamoud Abdelaal 2:1 before Manoj thrashed another Egyptian Eslam Ahmad 3:0.

Two other Indians who are in the semifinals are Commonwealth Games silver-medallist Mandeep Jangra (69kg) and former World Championships bronze-medallist Vikas Krishan (75kg).

The tournament features a total of 12 countries and is a test event for the October World championships, which is also an Olympic qualifying event.