Narender Berwal, Govind Sahani advance to pre-quarter finals of IBA Men’s World Boxing Championships

Tashkent: Indian pugilists Narender Berwal and Govind Sahani advanced to the pre-quarter finals of the IBA Men’s World Boxing Championships in Tashkent, Uzbekistan yesterday. Deepak Kumar entered the next round while ace Indian boxer Shiva Thapa made a shocking exit from the Championships. Playing in plus 92kg category, Narender defeated Muhammad Abroridinov of Tajikistan by 4-1. He will next face 2021 World Youth Championships bronze medallist Fernando Arzola of Cuba.

 

Earlier, 2022 Thailand Open champion Govind Sahani in 48kg secured a 5-0 win over Mehron Shafiev of Tajikistan. Deepak, on the other hand, ousted Luis Delgado of Ecuador. Next, Govind will face the top-seeded Sakhil Alakhverdovi of Georgia while Deepak



will take on reigning World Champion Saken Bibossinov of Kazakhstan.However, record six-time Asian medallist Shiva went down fighting 3-4 to Dos Reis Yuri of Brazil in the 63.5kg category.

 

Today, two-time Commonwealth Games bronze medallist Mohammad Hussamuddin, Tokyo Olympian Ashish Chaudhary, and Naveen Kumar will all be in action. Hussamuddin in 57kg will go head to head against Lyu Ping of China while Ashish in 80kg will face two-time Olympic gold medallist Arlen Lopez of Cuba. Naveen in 92kg will take on Jeong Jae-min of South Korea. The ongoing tournament is witnessing the participation of 538 boxers, including several Olympic medallists, from 107 countries.