Indian boxer Narendra Berwal (+92kg) entered the pre-quarterfinals of the AIBA Men’s World Championships by defeating Sierra Leone’s Mohamed Kende in a one-sided second round match here on Thursday.
Berwal completely dominated his formidable opponent, who could not engage in the majority of the bout and struggled with his movement.
The Indian, making his big event debut, was the quicker of the two and it would have been better not to fall into the queue of heavy punches thrown by Kendeh, if he had been more nimble.
Kendeh’s sluggish footwork, an inability to either defend himself or launch any strikes of note, eventually forced the referee to count a minute and a half to eight in the third round.
After this the bout was stopped in favor of Berwal.
However, late last night, another debutant Varinder Singh (60kg) was forced to give a walkover to Armenia’s Karen Tonkanyan as he was not in a fighting position due to high fever.
India’s Director of High Performance Santiago Nieva told PTI, “He is better now. We took him to the hospital and also got him tested for COVID-19 and he was found negative. Just bad luck, what can you do? Huh.”
India opposes Chahar’s defeat but appeal dismissed
India protested the RSC defeat of Lakshya Chahar (86kg) on Wednesday evening but it was rejected by the tournament jury.
Chahar lost to former Asian Games silver medalist Kim Hyongkyu of Korea when the bout had to be called off in the second round when a forehead cut made by the Indian was exposed.
The injury had hit the butt of Hyongkyu’s head in the first round. Chahar won the opening round 4-1 and dominated the second round as well, but after the bout was halted, the judges ruled in favor of the Korean.
India appealed against the decision, saying the referee should have attributed the end of the bout to the Korean’s head butt rather than reopening the cut despite medical attention.
“It is a bit technical but the jury did not agree with our reasoning. Unfortunately our appeal was rejected,” Niva said. PTI.
Niva was seen expressing her unhappiness over the decision after the bout, leaving Chahar also stunned.
Later tonight, Rohit Mor (57kg) and Akash (67kg) will compete in their second round bouts.
While Rohit will take on Alain Rahimik of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Akash will face Germany’s Daniel Krotter.
The gold winners in the showpiece will walk away with prize money of $100,000.
$50,000 will be given to the silver medalists and $25,000 to both the bronze medalists. The total prize money is $2.6 million.
In the weight categories, India is represented by its current national champions.
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