Manoj Kumar enters the last 16 of the World Boxing Championhips

London Olympics Quarterfinalist and 6th seeded Manoj Kumar (64kg) defeated Faith Keles of Turkey 2-1 in the second round of the World Boxing Championships.

Manoj Kumar, who got bye in the opening bout lost the first round to the Turkish Boxer but after that World No. 6 made a strong comeback in the next two rounds to out-punch his rival to make it to the last 16 in the light welterweight category. The individual scoreline read 30-27 27-30 29-28 in favor of the Indian boxer.

Manoj Kumar became the second successive Indian boxer to make it to the pre-quarterfinals of the Championships. Before this Manpreet Singh (91kg) had already secured his position in the last 16. Apart from this 3 Indian Boxers (Vikash Malik, Mandeep Jangra and Vijender Singh) have already cleared their first-round hurdle.

Manoj will next take on the Canadian boxer Yves Ulysse to for the place in the last 8. This bout will take place in the evening session of Monday.

Tomorrow is a big big day for the Indian team as four Indian boxers will be in action. In 46-49 kg wt. category Thokcham Nanao Singh will take on the Scottish boxer Aqeel Ahmed in the second round, in 56 kg wt. category World No. 4 Indian boxer Shiva Thapa will battle out with Mario Fernandez of Philipiness.

In 75 kg wt. category Olympic Bronze medalist Vijender Singh will fight the World No. 7 Jason Quigley of Ireland to make it to the top 16 of the Championships. In Super heavy weight category Satish Kumar will lock horns with Karimov Mirodzhidin of Tajikistan in the first round.

As Indian Boxing Federation is currently suspended by International Boxing Association’s (AIBA), Indian pugilists are competing as independent boxers under the banner of AIBA which directly means that if any Indian boxer wins the Gold medal at the Championships, then neither the tri-colour will be raised nor the national anthem will be played.