Asian silver medallist T Nano Singh lifted the spirit of the Indian camp by scoring a dominating 21-6 win over Mamishzade Elvin of Azerbaijan in the first round of the 48kg event of the World Boxing Championship in Milan, Italy.
It was a much needed win for India to revive its campaign as four of country’s boxers have already bit the dust in the first round, most disappointing being the defeat of Olympian Akhil Kumar.
Jai Bhagwan is the only other boxer to have booked a second round berth.
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Asian champion Suranjoy Singh (51kg), Jitender Kumar (54kg) and Manoj Kumar (64kg) are the pugilists who lost their opening round bouts.
However the dismal show by his compatriots had no effect on Nanao and he went on to score a comfortable victory.
He moved inside the Azerbaijan boxer’s guard at will and attacked with crisp uppercuts and straight left jabs to create a handsome 7-2 lead at the end of first round.
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With every passing round, Nanao consolidated his lead and easily cruised into the next level.
However the road gets tough for Nanao as in a repeat of Asian finals, he will next take on Thai Pongprayoon Kaeo.
Nanao had lost a close bout to Pongprayoon at the finals of the Asian Boxing Championships at Zhuhai to settle for a silver medal.