The second day of the Boxam International Tournament in Castellon, Spain, saw Vikas Krishan Yadav outpunch the 2012 London Olympic Games bronze medallist Vicenzo Mangiacapre and progress into the men’s 69kg semi-finals of the tournament.
The 2018 Commonwealth games gold medalist Vikas, who has already sealed his spot for his third Olympics in Tokyo, defeated Mangiacapre in 3-2 decision split. Other than Vikas, 5 more Indians secured their spot in the semi-finals after winning their respective quarter-finals bouts in the 35th edition of the tournament.
In the 57kg, the 2018 Commonwealth Games bronze medalist Mohammed Husamuddin defeated Italy's Simone Spada 5-0, while World Championships bronze medalist Manish Kaushik defeated Kazakhstan's Safiullin Zakir 4-1 in his return to the ring after a year. With 4-1 victories in their respective bouts, 2019 Asian Championship silver medalist Ashish Kumar (75kg) and Sumit Sangwan (81kg) advanced to the semi-finals. Sangwan defeated Belgium's Ziad El Mohor, while Kumar defeated Remo Salvatti of Italy. Satish Kumar, the first Indian boxer to qualify for the Olympics in the +91kg weight class, is the other Indian to reach the semi-finals.
Subsequently, World Championship silver medallist Amit Panghal (52kg) and Sanjeet (91kg) suffered defeats in their respective last-8 bout. Panghal was defeated 3-2 by Gabriel Escobar, a local favourite and European Games champion. and Sanjeet was defeated 3-2 by Matteo Girolamo of Italy.
In the women's category, Olympic bronze medallist Mary Kom (51kg), Jasmine (57kg), Simranjit (60kg) and Pooja Rani (75kg) have progressed to the semi-final stage of the tournament. India has already confirmed 10 medals in the tournament and all the 10 boxers will look forward to seal their places in the final as they play their semi-finals on Friday.
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