Narender nails it

India boxer Narender

Indian boxer Narender Berwal (+92kg) stormed into the pre-quarterfinals of the AIBA Men's World Championships after out-classing Sierra Leone's Mohamed Kendeh in a lop-sided second-round contest here on Thursday.

Dominating performance

Berwal thoroughly dominated his imposing rival, who just could not connect for most part of the bout and struggled with his movement as well. The Indian, making his debut at the big event, was the sharper of the two and did well not to come in the line of the heavy punches Kendeh could have thrown had he been more agile.

Sluggish Kendeh

Kendeh's sluggish footwork, inability to either defend himself or launch any attack of note eventually forced the referee to hand him a standing eight count a minute and a half into the third round.

The bout was then stopped in Berwal's favour. However, late last night, another debutant Varinder Singh (60kg) was forced to give a walkover to Karen Tonakanyan of Armenia as he was in no position to fight due to high fever.

"He is better now. We took him to hospital and also got him tested for COVID-19 and was found to be negative. Just bad luck, what can you do," India's High Performance Director Santiago Nieva told PTI.

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