World Junior Boxing Championships: Aditya Maan, Ashish romp into quarterfinals

File Photo

Indian boxing fans have plenty to rejoice about as the duo of Aditya Maan and Ashish romped into the quarterfinals of the World Junior Boxing Championships being played in Kiev, Ukraine.

Boxing in the 66-kg category, Maan, a bronze medallist at the Junior Continental Championship earlier this year, outduelled American Javier Estrada. The Indian landed some fierce punches on Estrada and never allowed him to hit the groove. The talented youngster went on to dominate the bout before winning it by an unanimous decision.

Earlier, Maan had outboxed Hungary’s Laszlo Kozak to reach the pre-quarterfinals. The Indian now faces Brazil’s Cassio Oliveira in the last eight stage and is now just one round away from making a podium finish.

Another Indian, Ashish, fighting in the 63-kg category, crushed Latvia’s Jegors Artjomovs. The pugilist, taking part in his first international tournament, came out all guns blazing against the Lativian and romped home in style.

He now faces Tajikistan’s Shabbos Negmatulloev in the quarterfinals and should back himself of making a podium finish by reaching the semifinals. The 15-year-old youngster from Chandigarh earlier thumped Austria’s Marcel Rumper in the first round by a RSC (Referee Stops Contest) decision.

However, there was some disappointment for Indian boxing fans as Vishnu Dayanand Chayal crashed out in the pre-quarterfinals in the 57-kg category, going down to England’s Dalton Smith.

Earlier, the Indian camp received a setback when reigning Asian light weight champion Prayag Chauhan surprisingly lost to Uzbekistan’s Muzaffar Rashidov in the opening round.