Gold Coast: Indian boxers Amit Panghal (49kg) and Naman Tanwar (91kg) assured themselves of Commonwealth Games medals on debut after advancing to the semifinals here today.
Amit defeated Scotland's Aqeel Ahmed in a split 4-1 verdict. The 19-year-old Naman, on the other hand, hammered Samoa's Frank Masoe 5-0 in his quarterfinal clash to move into the medal round.
"I didn't expect Ahmed to be this good. He surprised me with his speed and my counter-attack wasn't working at all. The coaches then told me to go all out aggressive which is what got me the results that I wanted," Amit told PTI after his bout.
Chasing a third successive international gold, the 22-year-old from Haryana overcame a rusty start to turn the tables on his opponent.
"This is definitely going to be the biggest medal of my career so far. There is no doubt about that," said the world championships quarterfinalists
Amit had lost the opening round on a majority decision but came back strongly to clinch the bout and a spot in the semifinals in his maiden appearance at a multi-sport event.
He had won gold medals at the India Open and the Strandja Memorial Tournament in Bulgaria before coming into the Games.
Naman is a former bronze-medallist from the youth world championships and defeated Asian silver-medallist Sumit Sangwan in the national trial to clinch a spot in the team.
The Delhi-boxer took to boxing to lose weight. He will be up against Australia's Jason Whateley in his semifinal clash on Friday.
Earlier, M C Mary Kom (48kg) had assured herself of a medal at the event, winning her opening round clash.
