Amit Panghal put in an absolutely terrific performance and assured India of another medal as the 26-year-old punched his way to an easy victory over Scotland's Lennon Mulligan at the Commonwealth Games on Thursday.
It was a unanimous verdict in favour of the Indian southpaw. Panghal had won a silver medal during the last edition in Gold Coast.
The bout wasn't of great quality but the 26-year-old India prevailed over his much younger Scottish opponent, tiring him out with a solid defence. He gained points with an occasional ferocious counter-attack.
In the first two rounds, Panghal employed a guard down approach to invite Mulligan to go on the offensive but swayed away from his reach with some nimble footwork.
In between, he did land a couple of left jabs to rattle the 20-year-old Scot and in the final round unleashed a barrage of 'one-two' combinations (a left jab followed by a right cross).
Mulligan got a standing count and by the end of round two, the writing was clear on the wall that Panghal will earn a second CWG medal.
Nikhat Zareen (50kg), Nitu Ganghas (48kg) and Mohd Hussamudin (57kg) have also reached the semifinal stage to be assured of medals in their respective categories. Later in the day, Jasmine beat New Zealand's Troy Garton by a 4-1 split verdict in the women's lightweight (60kg) quarter-final.
Earlier, Hima Das and PV Sindhu had a great outing on Day 7 of the Commonwealth Games as the former qualified for the 200m semifinals and Sindhu defeated Maldives' Fathimath Nabaaha Abdul Razzaq to enter the pre-quarterfinals of the women's singles event.
Hima Das qualified for the women's 200m semifinals after winning her heat with a timing of 23.42s at the Commonwealth Games here on Friday. The 22-year-old Hima led the five-woman field from the start with Rhoda Njobvu of Zambia clocking 23.85s to finish second while Jacent Nyamhunge of Uganda finished third with a timing of 24.07.
There are six heats lined up in the women's 200m and the top 16 will qualify for the semi-final. Hima won heat 2 but Favour Ofili of Nigeria (22.71s in Heat 1) and the formidable Elaine-Thompson-Herah (22.80s in heat 5) had superior timings. At least six athletes have clocked better times, compared to Hima, en route to their semi-final entries.
PV Sindhu sailed into the pre-quarterfinals of the women's singles event with a comfortable straight-game win over Maldives' Fathimath Nabaaha Abdul Razzaq at the Commonwealth Games here on Thursday. It was always going to be a tough task for Fathimath against the two-time Olympic medallist, who pocketed the Round of 32 match 21-4 21-11 in just 21 minutes.
Sindhu, the last edition's silver medallist in the singles, hardly broke a sweat while toying with her opponent in the first game. Without adopting an aggressive approach, Sindhu outfoxed the Maldives shuttler with her all-round game. She mostly used her deceptive drops shots to garner points.
In the second game, Fathimath produced some resistance initially and was on level terms with Sindhu till 9-9, as the Indian mostly gave away points on unforced errors. But Sindhu got her composure back and went into the breather leading 11-9. After the break, it was all Sindhu as she ran away with the game with Razzaq managing just two points, to book her place in the last 16.
Right now, India is placed seventh on the points table with 18 medals in the kitty.
(Inputs PTI)
