Vijender storms into semis

India were assured of a medal in the Asian Games boxing event with SAF Games gold-medallist Vijender storming into the semi-finals of the 75 kg category while two other pugilists Sanjay Kolte and Harpreet Singh were knocked out in the quarter-finals in Doha on Friday.

Vijender, tipped as a medal contender before leaving for Doha, lived upto his reputation by outpunching Turkmenistan's Shukuralia Atajanov with a referee stops contest verdict to be the lone Indian in the fray.

Vijender, who won a silver medal in the Commonwealth Games in Melbourne this year, was well ahead on points when the referee stopped the contest in the second round.

In the men's 91 kg category, Harpreet Singh was no match for his far superior opponent Naser Al Shami of Syria who recorded a comfortable 40-22 victory on points.

Harpreet, SAF games gold-medallist in Sri Lanka earlier this year, started off well in the first round but did not have the firepower to sustain  himself in the subsequent rounds.

Sanjay Kolte's progress in the men's 48 kg flyweight category was also cruelly brought to an end by China's Shiming Zou who was leading when the referee stopped the contest in the third round of the quarter-finals.

"It was a very bad performance and I am very new in boxing. It is my first competition but next time I will be better prepared. I will improve," Kolte said.

"The game was fair and square. Everybody that wins says it was good, everybody that loses complains. Sometimes, it happens that boxers who are champions are favoured by judges and sometimes in this way, they give points unfairly to the champion," he said.