NEW DELHI: Deepak Kumar (52kg) entered the semifinals of the 72nd Strandja Memorial boxing tournament in Sofia, Bulgaria, with a comfortable win to be assured of a medal. He will take on reigning Olympic and world champion Shakhobiddin Zoirov in the semis.
Deepak defeated Bulgaria’s Darislav Vasilev 5-0 to make the last-four stage and assure India of a second medal at the event.
Zoirov, also a silver-medallist at the Asian Games and the championships, claimed a facile 5-0 win over American Anthony Herrera.
However, it was a largely disappointing day for the Indians with former youth world champion Jyoti Gulia (51kg) and Bhagyabati Kachari (75kg) bowing out of the women’s competition.
With their loss, India’s challenge in the women’s draw has come to an end without anyone managing to secure a medal.
Manjeet Singh (+91kg), in the men’s draw, also made his exit from the tournament. Manjeet was beaten by Armenia’s Gurgen Hovhannisyan.
Gulia, who defeated two-time world champion Nazym Kyzaibay in the quarterfinals, went down 0-5 to Romania’s Lacramioara Perijoc.
Kachari also lost by the same margin to American Naomi Graham.
Earlier in the competition, Naveen Boora (69kg) made the semifinals by defeating Brazil’s Eravio Edson in his quarterfinal bout.
India won three medals at the previous edition of the event (one silver and two bronze).