Indian pugilists shine

Spearheaded by Verghese Johnson, six Indian boxers have entered the semifinals of the 5th Brandenburg Cup championships at Frankfurt, Germany.

Johnson (81 kg) stopped his opponent Benzeghiba Maurad of France in the third round to storm into the medal round.

In other matches, V Harikrishnan (60 kg) and Mujtaba Kamal (54 kg) both thrilled the Indian contingent by defeating their much-fancied opponents Grounchev Artem (Russia) and Gratschow Wilhelm (Germany) respectively, according to the Indian Amateur Boxing Federation (IABF).

Other Indians winning their matches included Khimanand Belwal (48 kg), who beat Pluskwig Manuel of Germany, Dalvir Singh (51 kg) who won over Peciukonis Ddanas (Ltu) and Pravin Kumar (60 kg), who overcame Salingue Guilaume of France.

However, Santosh Yadav, Diwakar Prasad, S D Ashok, Som Bahadur Pun and Harjinder Singh lost their bouts.

Results:
48 kgs: Santosh Shiv lost to Serikbayev Berik (Kaz) 18:5
48 kgs: Khimanand Belwal beat Pluskwig Manuel (Ger) 6:3
51 kgs: Diwakar Prasad lost to Freinois Guilaume (Fra) 0:0 (indl. score)
51 kgs: Dalvir Singh beat Peciukonis Danas (Ltu) 12:5
54 kgs: Mujtaba Kamal beat Gratschow Wilhelm (Ger) 8:5
54 kgs: S D Ashok lost to Tajbert Vitali (Ger) 8:8 (indl. Score)
57 kgs: Som Bahadur Pun lost to Kate Gyla (Hun) 9:3
60 kgs: Praveen Kumar beat Salingue Guilaume (Fra) 9:5
70 kgs: V Harikrishnan beat Rrounchev Artem (Rus) 11:2
75 kgs: Harjinder Singh lost to Szello Imre (Hun) RSC 3 rd.
81 kgs: verghese johnson beat benzeghiba maurad (fra) rsc 3 rd.

UNI