New Delhi: Indian youth boxer Lalitha Polipalli Prasad (49kg) continued his purple patch at the AIBA Youth World Boxing Championships in Yerevan, Armenia. The 17 year old advanced to the round of 16 in the light fly weight division after ousting Shatlykmyrat Myradov of Turkmenistan in splendid fashion. Prasad, who recently bagged the light fly weight title at the 2012 Tammer International tournament in Finland, made a strong opening charge in Armenia as well. The services boxer beat Fazil Kaggwa of Uganda with a huge margin of 14 points (20-6) in his first round fight to make his place in the round of 32.

On Saturday (1 December 2012) Prasad – one of India’s best bet for a medal in the tournament - forged ahead with the same zest as shown in Finland. The two times Junior National Champion took the early advantage against Myradov, with a one point lead in the first round. The Turkmenistan boxer, although behind managed to stay close on heels of Prasad; just two points separating the two after six minutes of play. In the final round though, the Indian stretched the lead overpowering Myradov with his quick jabs and combinations. He cemented his place in the pre-quarter finals with an 11-7 win on points. In the next round of the championship on 3 Dec 2012, Prasad is slated to fight Issac Pinto of Ecuador.

The evening session of play will see two more Indian boxers take to the ring. Manjeet Panghal (69kg) and Sandeep (75kg) will look to open their account with a win, after getting first round byes in their respective weight categories. While Manjeet takes on German boxer Abass Baraou, Sandeep will square up against Joongwon Kim of Korea. Earlier in the tournament heavy weight boxer Amritpreet Singh (91kg) advanced to the round of 32 with a win over Armin Prasovic of Montenegro in his opening round bout on Friday (30 Nov 12). Prasovic did not stand much of a chance against the heavy pounding by the Indian boxer. In the end Singh went on to win on points 15-7. He takes on Pawel Wierzbicki of Poland on Sunday (2 Dec 12).

But there were setbacks for the Indian camp in the light heavy weight, light welter weight and the bantam weight division. Reigning Junior National Champion Naveen Kumar, who got a bye in the first round, came up short in the round of 32 against Scott Forrest of Scotland on Friday (30 Nov 2012). Mohammed Hussain (56kg) and Deepak Tanwar’s (64kg) campaign also came to an end after both the boxers lost their opening round fight on the first day of the championship (29 Nov 12). Hussain lost to Kenji Fujita of Japan while Tanwar also went down against Japanese boxer Hikaru Okishima.

The other three Indian boxers in the fray Dheeraj (52kg), Nagesh Kharare (60kg) and Narender (+91kg) also got a bye in the round of 62 and will be seen in action on Sunday (2 Dec 2012). Dheeraj will lock horns with Roman Formanek of Slovakia; Nagesh on the other hand will face off in his first encounter at the youth world champions against English boxer Edward Cheeseman. Super heavy weight boxer Narender will battle Hussein Iashaish from Jordan.

By Indian Sports News Network