Baku: The Indian Challenge at the 2011 AIBA World Championships came to an end with Asian Games gold medallist Vikas Krishan (69kg) suffering a defeat in the semi-finals of the tournament.

Vikas making his welter weight debut defeated Vasili Belous of Moldova in a hard fought contest to make a place in the last four of his weight category. In the semi’s he was up against Taras Shelestyuk of Ukraine. Taras beat world number 3 and 2009 world championship silver medallist Andrey Zamkovoy of Russia in the quarters to set up the clash.  Both the boxers started cautiously, waiting for the other to make the move.

The Ukrainian boxer, who seemed to have studied Vikas’s well, brought all his experience to the fore and did not let the young Indian play his usual game. With some powerful infighting he took a 4:2 lead in the first round.  Vikas tried hard to get back in the game but could not break the strong defence of Shelestyuk. The 2010Europen Continental bronze medallist managed to open up a 4 point gap. 2010 Youth World Champion came back strongly in the final round with some feisty combinations; Vikas scored 6 points as opposed to Shelestyuk’s 5, but in the he end fell short. He lost on points 12:15 and will have to be content with a bronze medal performance.

The Indian team has shown great talent and potential putting exceptional performances against world class boxers at the AIBA World Boxing Championships. The tournament witnessed four Indian boxers make it to the quarter-final round and qualifying for the 2012 London Games. Vikas Krishan (69 kg), Jai Bhagwan (60 kg), Manoj Kumar (64 kg) and Devendro Singh (49kg) all sealed Olympic berths. This will be India’s best performance in any World Championships or Olympic qualifiers.

At the Chicago world Championships, Antharesh Lakra was the only one to qualify for Being Olympics.  64 boxers have so far qualified from Baku for London Olympics. Russia and Ukraine have five boxers, while Cuba, India, Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan all have four making it to the Olympics.