Sumit, Sarjubala assured medals

New Delhi: Asian silver-medallist Sumit Sangwan (91kg) and World silver-medallist Sarjubala Devi (51kg) are among four Indian boxers assured of medals after scoring facile victories in the inaugural India Open, for men and women, in Delhi on Monday.

Second seed Sumit defeated compatriot Virender Kumar 5-0, while Sarjubala Devi (51kg) and Pinki Jangra (51kg) advanced to the semis in the women's competition of the US $100,000 event.

Heavyweight (91kg) top seed Naman Tanwar, who claimed a bronze at the World Youth Championships, made an impressive debut in the senior circuit, defeating Jordan's Eishaish Hussein to enter the semi-finals and be assured of a medal.

Entering the quarter-finals with an easy win was top seed and three-time Asian medallist Shiva Thapa (60kg), who produced a calculative performance to defeat Bhutan's Dorji Wangdi in his opening clash. He will face Uzbekistan's Sherbek Rakhmatulloev.

Another impressive winner on the day was National champion Manish Kaushik (60kg), who came up with a spirited show to defeat Cuba's Rabi Armando Martinez. Top seed Sarjubala assured India their first medal of the day when she beat Kenya's Christine Ongare 5-0.

The diminutive Manipuri, who is a World Championships silver-medallist was in aggressive mode from the first ring of the bell. Her hooks connected quite accurately, and she did well to back-paddle and thwart Ongare's attempts at counter-attack.

In the end, judges had no hesitation in awarding the bout unanimously to the home favourite. She set up a semi-final with Mongolian Jargalan Ochirbat, who upstaged 13th seed and former junior World champion Nikhat Zareen in a fiercely-contested clash. Ochirbat won the bout on a split 3-2 verdict.

Also advancing to the medal rounds was Commonwealth Games bronze-medallist Pinki Jangra (51kg). She scored acomprehensive 5-0 triumph over Jordan's Al-Mriheel.

Among the men, World Championships quarter-finalist and Asian bronze-medallist Amit Phangal entered the last-eight stage without having to fight after his opponent Ramish Rahmani of Afghanistan gave him a walkover.

Next up for Amit is Cameroon's Fotsala Simplice, who got the better of Malaysian Mohammad Fuad Bin Redzuan. King's Cup gold-medallist K Shyam Kumar (49kg) also advanced to the quarters but after a draining contest against compatriot Neeraj Swami even though the scoreline read 5-0.

However, it was heartbreak for World youth champion Sachin Siwach (49kg), who lost a closely-contested bout to Thailand's Thani Narinram. Earlier, Pooja (69kg) had been assured of a medal after making the semifinal straightaway owing to the small size of her draw.