Four of the five Indian boxers may have a shot at the Olympics should they win their semi-final matches.
A pat on the back by none other than International Boxing Association President Ching Kuo Wu came as a shot in the arm as five Indian boxers geared up for the Asian Olympic Qualifiers semifinals in Astana, Kazakhstan tomorrow.
Of the five in fray, only Vijender Singh (75kg) is assured of a London berth so far as his category has four slots on offer. The 26-year-old Olympic and World Championship bronze medallist will be appearing in his third Olympics -- a first for an Indian boxer.
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Shiva Thapa (56kg) and Sumit Sangwan (81kg) need to win their respective semifinals to be assured of a ticket to London, while Manpreet Singh (91kg) and Paramjeet Samota (+91kg) have to go all the way and clinch a gold to make it to the Olympics.u00a0
Shiva and Sumit can qualify for London even if they don't win tomorrow provided their respective opponents go on to clinch gold medals as their categories have three slots each up for grabs. Shiva will face Japan's Satoshi Simizu, Manpreet will fight it out with Iran's Ali Mazaheri, while Sumit will be up against Jordan's Ihab Almatdault in the semifinals. Samota will be competing against Syria's Soumar Ghosoun in his first bout of the event as he got a bye in the semis, while Vijender will take on Asian and Youth Olympics bronze medallist Nursahat Pazziyev.
As they geared up for the big battle, the Indian contingent's performance drew the attention of Wu, who is in Astana, and he put in a word of praise for the country's pugilists. "The AIBA President has congratulated the Indian contingent and praised its performance," national coach Gurbax Singh Sandhu told PTI from Astana.
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