Boxer Deepak upsets Olympic champ to enter 52kg final

Sofia (Bulgaria), Feb 26 India's Deepak Kumar upset reigning Olympic champion Shakhobidin Zoirov of Uzbekistan 4-1 and entered the final of the 52kg of the 72nd Strandja Memorial boxing tournament on Friday.

Earlier, in the semi-finals, Deepak, an Asian Championship silver medallist, had scored a 5-0 win over Bulgarian's Darislav Vasilev.

Deepak looked in complete control throughout the match. He was swift in his movements inside the ring and his speedy footwork did not allow his opponent any chance to score.

Naveen Boora (69kg) also entered the semi-finals and secured a second medal for India. Boora will be up against Asian Games gold medallist Bobo-Usmon Baturov of Uzbekistan on Friday night.

However, Jyoti Gulia (51kg) and Bhagyabati Kachari (75kg) suffered 5-0 defeats in their quarter-final bouts.

Gulia lost to Romanian boxer Lacramioara Perijoc while Kachari also went down to the world championship bronze medallist, Naomi Graham of USA.

Manjeet Singh lost his +91kg quarter-final bout to Armenia's Gurgen Hovhannisyan.

( With inputs from IANS )