Ekaterinburg: Asian champion Amit Panghal (52kg) and the debutant duo of Manish Kaushik (63kg) and Sanjeet (91kg) displayed unstoppable momentum as they entered the quarterfinals of the World Men's Boxing Championships with impressive wins here on Tuesday.
Asian Games gold-winner Panghal defeated Turkey's Batuhan Citfci, while Kaushik stunned fourth-seeded Mongolian Chinzorig Baatarsukh, who is an Asian Games silver-medallist and also a two-time medal-winner at the Asian Championships. Both the Indians claimed 5-0 victories.
Sanjeet (91kg) then caused another massive upset by defeating second-seeded Uzbek Sanjar Tursunov 3-2. Tursunov is a bronze-medallist from the previous world championship besides being an Asian silver-winner. While Panghal is chasing a medal in his second world championship, Kaushik and Sanjeet are making their debuts at the showpiece. All the three boxers are from the Indian Army.
Second-seeded Panghal, the reigning Asian champion, will next be up against Filipino Carlo Paalam, who had lost to Panghal in the semifinals of the Asian Games in Jakarta last year. Paalam defeated Korea's Jo Sehyeong in a unanimous verdict in his pre-quarterfinal bout.
Kaushik, on the other hand, will square off against Brazil's Wanderson de Oliveira. Oliveira defeated Japan's Saisuke Narimatsu in his last-16 stage bout. Sanjeet will be up against seventh seeded Julio Cesa Castillo Torres of Ecuador. Torres got the better of Hungary's Adam Hamori.
Panghal was the first to take the ring for India and in a contest which didn't have much of action to start with, he set the ball rolling by using his left hooks to good effect in the opening round. This was despite the fact that Panghal was lunging at the taller boxer to connect his left straights.
