Prasad, Sandeep in quarters of Youth World Championship

Yerevan (Armenia), Dec 3 (IANS) Lalitha Polipalli Prasad (49kg) continued his winning streak at the AIBA Youth World Boxing Championships here Monday.

The 17-year-old cemented his place in the quarterfinals of the championship with another scintillating performance. Pitted against Issac Pinto of Ecuador, Prasad dominated the game with his accurate jabs and power hooks from the start and won the bout 15-5 on points.

The brittle defence of Pinto could hardy withstand the relentless pounding laid on him by the Indian boxer. An aggressive opening gave him a three point advantage (4-1) in the first round. From there on, the hapless Ecuadorian completed the last six minutes of the bout as a mere formality. In the quarter-finals Tuesday, the Indian will face Japanese boxer Kosie Tanaka.

Prasad, a product of the Boys Sports Company at the Army Sports Institute (ASI) in Pune, is now just one win away from ensuring himself at least a bronze medal.

Sandeep Sharma (75kg), a bronze medallist at the 2010 International Invitational tournament in Kazakhstan, also made his way into the quarters with a resounding victory over European Junior Championships bronze medallist Berika Mhechadze of Georgia.

He completely outclassed Berika and was outstanding all throughout the bout winning all three rounds against his European opponent. He won 17-8 on points. In the quarter-finals he would battle against Uzbek boxer Azizjon Mamatov in an attempt to qualify for the medal rounds.

The Indian boxers shone through the evening session of play late Sunday night as well.

Silver medallist at the 2012 Tammer International Tournament Dheeraj Singh (52kg) overhauled his opponent Roman Formanek of Slovakia in spectacular fashion.

The 18-year-old took full advantage of his height and long reaching arms to break the defence of Formanek. A 12-3 lead after round two, saw him record an impressive victory and sail through to the next round of the championship. He won on points 20-5 (2-1, 10-2 and 8-2). The Indian boxer is now set to face Tural Ahmadov of Azerbaijan in the pre-quarter finals of the fly weight category later Monday.

Super heavyweight boxer Narender (+91) upstaged Hussein Iashaish from Jordan.

There was not much separating the two boxers and both matched each other punch-for-punch but Narender took a crucial one point lead in the first round (3-2). Iashaish, though, levelled things in the second round winning it 5-4. With the scores knotted at seven-all both fighters went all out in the final round.

In the end though, it was Narender who edged past the Jordanian boxer with a score of 12-11. He now takes on 2010 European Junior Championship bronze medallist Ivan Kabatov of Russia Tuesday.

IANS 2012-12-03 20:22:27