Four Indian boxers enter finals of Thailand Open

New Delhi: Indian pugilists Ashish Kumar, Govind Sahani, Varinder Singh and Monika entered the finals of their respective events at the Thailand Open International Boxing Tournament in Phuket on Wednesday.

Ashish, who won gold medal in the last edition in the 75kg class, lived up to his billing and produced a flawless performance to register an easy 5-0 win over Maikhel Roberrd Muskita of Indonesia in the men’s 81kg semifinal bout.

In the men’s 48kg category, Govind had to work hard against Vietnam’s Nguyen Linh Phung as the bout witnessed heavy exchange of punches but the Indian took the charge of the contest in time and tilted the result in his favour by a split 4-1 decision.

In the men’s 60kg semifinals, Varinder was given a walkover by Palestine’s Abdel Rahman Abunab.

Among women, 26-year-old Monika, who upstaged two-time World Championships medallist Josie Gabuco in the previous round, also looked solid against Tran Thi Diem Kieu from Vietnam in the 48kg last-four bout as she notched up an equally dominating win by unanimous decision without breaking a sweat.

Meanwhile in the men’s quarterfinal bouts played earlier in the day, Amit Panghal emerged victorious while Rohit Mor (57kg) crashed out with a 0-5 loss to Thailand’s Rujakran Juntrong.

Panghal, the silver medallists at the 2019 World Championships, won comfortably against Thanakon Aonyaem of Thailand by unanimous decision in the men’s 52kg.

Bhagyabati Kachari also made her way into the women’s 75kg semifinals after outclassing another Thai opponent Pornnipa Chutee 5-0.

The ongoing tournament has been witnessing high-voltage competition in presence of 130 top boxers, including 74 male and 56 females, from Asia, Europe, Oceania and Africa.

In the last edition of the Thailand Open, held in 2019, the Indian contingent signed off with eight medals — one gold, four silver and three bronze.