Vijender, Jitender in second round of Asian Olympic qualifiers

Vijender, had a smooth win as he thrashed his Tajik opponent Jasur Kurdanov 24-16 to advance into the next round.

Updated on: Jan 25, 2008, 20:48:54 IST

PTI | By HT Correspondent, Bangkok

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Indian pugilists made a brilliant start to their campaign in the Asian Olympic Boxing Qualifying tournament with Doha Asiad bronze winner Vijender (75kg) and Jitender Kumar (51kg) sailing into the second round on Friday.

Jitender defeated Vietnam's Tran Quoc Viet 17-9 to set up a clash with Uzbekistan's Doniyorov Tulashboy tomorrow.

However, the spunky Haryana boxer is doubtful for the encounter after he picked up a nasty eyebrow cut today.

Vijender, meanwhile, had a smooth win as he thrashed his Tajik opponent Jasur Kurdanov 24-16 to advance into the next round.

Tomorrow, Commonwealth Games gold medal winner in bantam weight, Akhil Kumar, who returns after a lengthy injury lay-off, will take to the ring against Iran's Javad Afrakhteh in his opening bout.

Only one Indian boxer -- A L lakra (57kg) -- has made the cut for Bejing Olympics so far after reaching the quarterfinals of the first qualifying event, the World Championship in Chicago last year.

The event here is the first Asian qualifying tourney and 139 boxers from 27 countries are chasing 19 Olympic spots in 10 weight categories, from 48 kg to 91 kg. The criterion for Olympic qualification is a gold or silver finish.

India has sent an eight-member team for the tournament.

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