Sumit Sangwan among 12 to enter semis of Belgrade boxing tourney

Asian silver-winner Sumit Sangwan (91kg) was among the 12 Indian boxers who were assured of medals at the 56th Belgrade International Tournament in Serbia after getting contrasting entries into the semifinals.

Sumit, who is making a comeback after recovering from a wrist injury, brushed aside local favourite Kosta Bozovic in his quarterfinal bout last night. He will be up against Greece's Vagka Nanitzanian in the semifinal.

Sumit is an Olympian and a bronze-medallist from the India Open in January, where he had to pull out of the semifinal owing to his injured wrist.

Also advancing to the semifinal was former junior world champion Nikhat Zareen (51kg). Zareen, a two-time national medallist, made the semifinals after beating Russia's Liliya Aetbaeva.

The small size of the draws in the tournament that most of the Indians in fray either had to win just one bout or get a bye to make the semifinal stage.

Among those who won their quarterfinal bouts were Manipur's Laldinmawia, who defeated German's Hamza Touba 2-1.

Pawan Kumar (69kg) made the semis after sailing past Greece's Athanasios Glynos 3-0.

In the light heavyweight (81kg) category, Neelkamal Singh defeated Turkey's Bayram Malkan 3-0.

In the super heavyweight (+91kg) category, Naender got the better of Turkey's Eren Uzun in in the quarterfinals. Narendre had recently claimed an impressive win during Indias World Series of Boxing clash against Russia.

Among the women, Priyanka Thakur (60kg) got a walkover from local hope Bojana Ranic, paving her way into the semifinals.