Satish, Sonia in quarters, three others in last-16

Bangkok, April 19 

Indian boxers Satish Kumar (+91kg) and Sonia Chahal (57kg) entered the quarterfinals on the opening day of the Asian Boxing Championships. Satish out-punched Iran’s Iman Ramezanpourdelavar to make the last-8, while Sonia defeated Vietnam’s Uyan Do Nha.

Satish eased past his fumbling opponent, striking at will in a one-sided contest. Sonia pounced on her overly defensive opponent and produced a near-flawless performance to clinch a 5-0 win. Deepak (49kg) and Rohit Tokas (64kg) advanced to the last-16 stage with confident victories. Joining them was Ashish (69kg), who defeated Cambodia’s VY Sophors in the evening session.

“All the gold winners of this competition will be assured of a place in the World Championships team (scheduled in September this year),” Indian boxing’s High-Performance Director Santiago Nieva said.

Earlier, Deepak defeated Vietnam’s Loi Bui Cong Danh, fetching a unanimous verdict from the judges before Tokas put it past Taiwan’s Chu-Yen Lai with a similar scoreline. Tokas (64kg) was up against a more aggressive boxer in Lai but he hardly broke a sweat to advance. The Indian toyed with his rival, who seemed underprepared for the bout. Lai was cautioned several times for failing to keep his head up. He went for the jugular in the last three minutes but Tokas thwarted him. — PTI

Bout Review Process 

• Over 100 women and 198 men boxers from 34 countries are vying for the top honours in the championships. The tournament has a Bout Review Process in place for any contentious decision. Teams will be handed two yellow cards at the beginning of their respective bouts and coaches will have a minute after the bout to appeal against a decision. Cameras will record the bouts in slow motion for reviews and an observer will decide on the merits of the appeals. In case the decision does not favour the team that has appealed, the national federation will have to pay $1,000 as a penalty.