Dinesh Dagar knocks out former Olympic bronze medallist Evaldas Petrauskas

Rising Indian boxer Dinesh Dagar made a fabulous start to his 69 kg campaign at the 38th GeeBee Boxing Tournament, edging the 2012 London Olympic bronze medallist Evaldas Petrauskas of Lithuania 3-2 to progress into the quarter-finals in Helsinki on Thursday.

The 23-year-old showed his resilience and determination in ample amount to get back from a second-round knockdown on his way to the big win.

Given that Petrauskas has a Youth Olympics gold, a Youth World Championships silver medal and a European Championships bronze medal to his name, this was a huge confidence-boosting victory for Dagar. The young Indian pugilist thus continues his fine form a year after grabbing the silver medal at the India Open.

 

India, however, did not have a flawless start at the opening day of the tournament as Ankit Khatana was blanked 0-5 by England's Luke McCormack in the 64kg category.

Around 100 boxers are participating in the tournament from 15 countries as the European swing continues in the boxing calendar.