Kaushik, Tokas, Negi enter Makran Cup semifinals

New Delhi, February 25: Commonwealth Silver medallist, Manish Kaushik alongside two other pugilists progressed to the semi-finals and in the process assured medals for India at the ongoing Makran Cup boxing tournament in Chabahar, Iran on Sunday.

The reigning national champion put up a dominant display to secure a place in the semis after outclassing Moumivand Salar in a unanimous 5:0 victory in the 60kg quarter-final clash.

Following suit was Rohit Tokas who came under the limelight with his promising performances in World Series Boxing, early last year. Tokas, known for his attacking style of boxing, did not give his opponent Tugrulbeg Pazzyyev any chance to settle down, he was declared a 5-0 unanimous winner by the judges at the end of three rounds.

Army man, Duryodhan Singh Negi also guaranteed himself a semi-finals berth in the 69 kg category after his match against Kamyab Moradi was abandoned in R2 in favour of the Indian.

It was, however, end of the road for boxers Manish Panwar and Madan Lal. Chemistry Cup Gold medallist, Madan Lal, also the reigning national champion, put up his trademark aggressive display but suffered an unfortunate result losing out narrowly 2:3 against Mohammad Kaspour in his 56kg semi-final bout.

Young pugilist Manish Panwar too suffered a similar fate after being stunned to a 0:5 loss against Safari Keivan (81kg).

India pugilists have assured a total of 8 medals in the ongoing tournament. Earlier, five other Indians- Deepak (49kg), Lalit Prasad (52kg), Manjeet Singh Panghal (75kg), Sanjeet (91kg) and Satish Kumar (+91kg) assured medals after winning their respective quarters bouts to progress to the semi-finals of the event.

Source: BFI Release