Olympian Diwakar Prasad (60kg) assured himself of his first international medal in over two years as he stormed into the semifinals of the AIBA 3 Star China Cup along with Kuldeep Singh (75kg) on a second successive all-win day for Indian boxers in Guiyang on Wednesday.
Diwakar, who was returning to the ring after more than two years due to health problems and loss of form, thrashed Frenchman Farhany Radouane 11-1 in a lopsided contest to continue his dream comeback.
He will now be up against local favourite Liu Qiang in the last four stage on Friday.
Later in the day, two-time National champion Kuldeep brushed aside a late fightback by local hope Wu Xiaolu to win 7-5 and enter the medal rounds where he would be up against another Chinese Zhang Jianting.
India is now assured of at least three bronze medals in the ranking points event as two-time National champion Jasveer Singh (81kg) was already through to the semifinals after getting a bye.
Power-packed
It was a power-packed performance by the 25-year-old Diwakar, who was a featherweight (57kg) boxer until last year.
The Indian took a 6-1 lead in the first round and added three more points in the second to be up 9-1.
With a formidable lead in hand, Diwakar didn't have to toil too hard in the final three minutes and added two more points to his tally to round off a dominating show.
Kuldeep's was a much closer affair.
The Punjab boxer was up 5-2 after the first two rounds and had to ward off a stiff fightback from Xiaolu in the final three minutes.
On Thursday, three Indian boxers would be in action in the quarterfinals.
Former Commonwealth champion Sunil Kumar (51kg) will fight it out against Kazakh Ismail Akhunov, while South Asian Games gold medallist Chhote Lal Yadav (57kg) will take on Sri Lankan Saman Silva.
Jai Singh Patil (69kg) will square off against Kazakhstan's Omerzakov Manat in the tournament that features 102 boxers from 19 countries.
