Commonwealth Games silver-medallist L Devendro Singh (49kg) assured himself of a medal and a place in the upcoming World Championships by storming into the Asian Championships semifinal here today.
Devendro, a silver-medallist from the previous edition of the event, out-punched Cornelis Kwangu Langu of Indonesia 3-0 in his quarterfinal bout.
He will square off against top-seeded Uzbek Hasanboy Dusmatov in the semifinals. Today's win assured Devendro of a place in the October World Championships -- the first qualifying event for next year's Rio Olympics.
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"He boxed extremely well today. It was a very dominant performance and even though he faces a very tough opponent in the next round, he might just surprise everybody given the form that he is in," national coach Gurbax Singh Sandhu told PTI.
The pint-sized dynamo was his usual aggressive self, using his right uppercuts and hooks with precision in all three rounds.
What stood out today was the Manipuri's control. Known to be a tempo boxer, Devendro's aggression wasn't completely no holds barred.
The nimble-footed pugilist used the uppercuts to break Langu's shell guard and did the scoring with hooks and jabs to advance in the Championship.
In the evening session, defending champion Shiva Thapa (56kg) will take on Kyrgyzstan's Omurbek Malabekov, while former Commonwealth Games gold-medallist Manoj Kumar (64kg) will fight Uzbek Fazliddin Gaibnazarov in their respective quarterfinal bouts.
They would be followed by second seed Vikas Krishan (75kg) -- against Vietnam's Dinh Hoang Truong -- and Manpreet Singh (91kg) -- against second seed Rustam Tulaganov of Uzbekistan.
They would need to be in the medal rounds to be assured of World Championship berths.
