Asian silver-winner Deepak enters quarters of Strandja Memorial on mixed opening day for India

New Delhi: Asian silver-medallist Deepak Kumar (52kg) advanced to the quarterfinals with a facile win as Indian boxers got off to a mixed start at the 72nd Strandja Memorial Tournament in Sofia, Bulgaria.

Deepak, also a 2019 India Open gold-medallist, defeated Kazakhstan’s Olzhas Bainiyazov 5-0 in his opening bout to make the last-eight stage.

Other winners on Monday included Naveen Kumar (91kg) among men and Jyoti (51kg) in the women’s draw.

While Naveen defeated American Darius Fulghum in a close fight that ended 3-2 in his favour, Jyoti got the better of Ukraine’s Tetiana Kob 4-1.

However, Shashi Chopra (60kg), Lalita (69kg) and Sakshi (57kg) lost their opening bouts to bow out of the competition.

Shashi was beaten 0-5 by Brazil’s Beatriz Ferreira. Lalita, on the other hand, lost to Uzbekistan’s Navabakhor Khamidova by a similar margin.

Sakshi went down in a split 1-4 verdict to American Andrea Medina.

In the men’s competition, Naveen Boora (69kg) and Ankit Khatana (75kg) have got byes into the pre-quarterfinals of the tournament.

The tournament features boxers from 30 nations, including France, Ireland, Kazakhstan, Russia, Sweden, Ukraine, United States of America and Uzbekistan.

India has sent a 12-member team for the prestigious event — seven men and five women. (PTI)