Olympic-bound India boxers storm into Rd 2 in Kazakhstan

India's young and promising Olympic-bound boxers Shiva Thapa and Vikas Krishan yesterday entered the second round of the third International Republic of Kazakhstan President's Cup in Almaty.

Shiva Thapa and Vikas Krishan

After a superlative show at the recent AIBA Asian Olympic Qualifying event, Youth Olympic silver medallist Shiva (56kg) and World Championship bronze medallist Vikas (69kg) registered contrasting wins on Day One of the event.

Shiva had to fight hard before emerging victorious by a 12-10 scoreline against Ukraine's Prudkiy Oleg. He will however have to be at his best as he has a tough next round opponent in Cuban boxer Alvanes Estrado.

Vikas had a comparatively easier passage into the second round. The 2010 Guangzhou Asian Games gold medalist beat Ashkeev Madiyar 11-5. He next faces Kojabekov Bakhitjan of Kazakhstan.

However, two other Olympic-bound Indian boxers - Sumit Sangwan (81kg) and Jai Bhagwan (60kg) - lost in the preliminaries. Sangwan and Bhagwan lost to Kazakhstan's Abdullev Askar and Bashnev Samat respectively.u00a0