New Delhi, April 6 (Representative) Olympian Ashish Kumar continued his brilliant form at the Thailand Open International Boxing Tournament and entered the finals alongside three other pugilists here on Wednesday. Monika, Govind Sahani and Varinder Singh are the others who have progressed into the finals. Ashish, who won gold medal in the last edition in the 75kg, produced a flawless show to register an easy 5-0 win over Maikhel Roberrd Muskita of Indonesia in the men’s 81kg semi-final. The 26-year-old Monika, who ousted the two-time World Championships medallist Josie Gabuco in the previous round, also looked solid against her opponent Tran Thi Diem Kieu of Vietnam in the women’s 48kg last-four bout as she notched up a dominating win by unanimous decision without breaking a sweat.
On the other hand, Govind had to work hard against Vietnam’s Nguyen Linh Phung in the men’s 48kg semi-final contest that saw heavy exchange of punches but the Indian took the charge of the match in time and tilted the result in his favour by a split 4-1 decision. In the men’s 60kg semi-finals, Varinder Singh was given a walkover against Palestine’s Abdel Rahman Abunab. Meanwhile in the men’s quarterfinals bouts played earlier in the day, Amit Panghal emerged victorious while Rohit Mor (57kg) made exit with a 0-5 loss to Thailand’s Rujakran Juntrong. Panghal, 2019 World Championships silver medallist, won comfortably against Thanakon Aonyaem of Thailand by unanimous decision in the men’s 52kg contest. Bhagyabati Kachari also made her way into the women’s 75kg semi-finals after outplaying Thai opponent Pornnipa Chutee in 5-0 win.