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Commonwealth Games gold medallist Manoj Kumar (64kg) became the sixth Indian boxer to advance to the 2nd round of the 2011 AIBA World Championships in Baku, Azerbaijan after notching a comfortable win in his opening round bout. He now joins L Devendro (49kg), Suranjoy Singh (52kg), Akhil Kumar (56kg), Dinesh Kumar (81kg) and Vikas Krishnan (69kg) who have already made a place in the round of 32 in their respective weight category.
Kumar, playing in the light welter weight division, was up against bronze medallist at the Commonwealth Games Valentino Knowles of Bahamas, a boxer he defeated at the New Delhi CW Games. The 24 year old took a crucial one point lead in the opening round and increased the margin to three points in the second. Having measured his opponent enough, he switched gears taking the game away from the Bahamas boxer in the final three minutes of play. He went to secure his place in the next round of the championship with a 17:11 win on points.
Kumar, making his second appearance at the world championships, will now take on European Champion Raymond Moylette of Ireland in the ‘last 32’ round. Moylette beat Arturs Ahmetovs of Latvia in a stunning contest (16:11) to set up a clash with Manoj. The Irish boxer, who is ranked 6th in the world looks in good touch and Manoj will have to be on top of his game to edge past him when they lock horns on the 2nd of October.
Day five of the event and the poster boy of Indian Boxing, Vijender Singh will make his first appearance at the 2011 World Championships. The 2009 WC bronze medallist is expected to have a hard contest as he faces Olympic silver medallist Emilio Correa of Cuba. Although Vijender (8) is ranked higher than Correa (18) in the world rankings, but the Cuban has a psychological advantage as he defeated Vijender in the semi-finals at the 2008 Beijing Olympic. The 25 year old, though would be looking to make amends this time around. CWG bronze medallist Jai Bhagwan (60kg) will also start his world championship campaign, against Lithuania’s Evaldas Petrauskas.
