In a proud moment for Indians, Mohit Khatana (80kg) and Satender Rawat (80+kg), made their way to the finals while six others settled for bronze medals after semi final defeats in the Asian Junior Championships in Puerto Princesa, Philippines on Sunday. As Khatana defeated Uzbekistan’s Rakhmonov Kamronbek in a 4-1 split verdict, Rawat got the better of Kazakhstan’s Arnur Akhmetzhanov.Interestingly, both the Indian boxers will be up against rivals from the same countries in the final, on Monday.
Khatana, will be up against Kazakhstan’s Togambay Sagyndyk. Rawat, on the other hand, will square off against Almatov Shokrukh in his summit clash. However, the other six Indians in fray lost their last-four stage bouts and had to be content with bronze medals.
Ankit Narwal (57kg) went down to Uzbekistan’s Javlonbek Yuldashev. Bhavesh Kattimani (52kg) was beaten by Kazakhstan’s Sheksen Bibars. Siddhartha Malik (48kg) went down to Japan’s Yano Toshiya, while Vinit Dahiya (75kg) lost to Maksut Kuandyk of Kazakhstan.
In the other semifinal clashes, Akshay Siwach (60kg) lost to Japan’s Reito Tsutsumi while Aman Sehrawat (70kg) was defeated by Iraq’s Saleem Saleh.
