Oct 26: Doha Asian Games bronze medallist Vijender Singh and Anthresh Lalit Lakra kept their hopes alive in search of next year’s Beijing Olympic berth. Both of them advanced to the next round by beating their respective opponents at the World Boxing championship here on Wednesday.
Both the pugilists kept the Indian flag flying on the second day of the boxer’s mega event after S Suresh Singh's disappointing exit in the opening round of bantamweight category.
Lakra registered a 19-14 win against Ju Min-jae of Korea in the first round of the featherweight (57 kg) category, while Vijender was impressive in his opening bout to score a 25-14 victory over Ronald Gavril of Romania in the 75-kg category.
Lakra has made a good comeback this year after a year-long break from competitive boxing. He had also won the Commonwealth gold in Glasgow, Scotland.
Lakra started impressively and snatched a crucial a 3-1 lead in the first round. The Korean, however, bounced back by winning five points in the second while Lakra managed only four. However, the Indian held his nerve at crucial junctures and a 6-3 decision in his favour in the fourth and final round sealed the fate of his opponent.
Lakra will fight it out with Tajikistan’s Bahodir Karimov in the next round on Saturday at the same time Vijender will be up against Venezuela's Alfonso Blanco in his second round.
A quarter-final finish is all what required to earn an Olympic quota berth. Lakra will have to win two more rounds to achieve this. The World championship is the first qualifying event for next year’s Olympics in Beijing.
Vijender, the only boxer to be conferred with the Arjuna Award this year, has been a great performer ever since he arrived at the international arena. Vijender had won the silver medal in the Melbourne Commonwealth Games and completed the season with a bronze in the Doha Asiad.
Vijender moved to the middleweight division in 2006 before competing for many years in the 69-kg class. Vijender came out with flurry of attacks against Gavril, to establish a 7-1 lead in the first round. Vijender was 8-3 up in the second while he trailed 6-7 in the third round before finishing off with a 4-3 in the final round.
More than 650 boxers from 120 countries across the globe are vying for top honours and the top eight appearances in each of the 11 weight categories will book their berth for the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games.
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