New Delhi: Olympic bronze medallist and middle weight (75kg) top seed Vijender Singh started his campaign in style, beating Kazakhstan's Azamat Belgibayev to enter the pre-quarterfinals of World Boxing Championships in Milan, Italy on Saturday.
The 23-year-old world number two, who was conferred the Khel Ratna award last month, defeated his rival 14-8. Vijender will take on Canadian Steve Rolls, who got the better of local favourite Luca Podda, on September 8.
The Haryana-boxer, who got a bye in the first round, was on the backfoot to start with and was trailing 0-3 in the first round but staged a remarkable comeback in the next two rounds.
He made it 9-8 in the second round before blanking his rival in the final round to finish 14-8.
"I am relieved and very happy. It's great to start off with a win," Vijender said.
National coach Gurbax Singh Sandhu lauded Vijender for changing his strategy well after the initial setback.
"Vijender started with counter-punching but Azamat managed to get three points with some rather soft touches.
Then Vijender changed his strategy and became more aggressive," Sandhu said.
"Vijender would move back and attack and he scored from upper cuts and right straights. The other guy was also very good and it seemed he had analysed Vijender's style well but in the end my boy outsmarted him," he added.
Tomorrow, Jai Bhagwan (60kg) will take on Eugen Burhard of Germany in the pre-quarters.
In 81kg, fourth seeded Dinesh Kumar will be up against Reznicek Vladimir of Czech Republic in the second round after getting a bye in the first round.
In 91kg, Manpreet Singh will meet Usyk Olexandr of Ukraine in the second round after he too received a bye in the opening round.
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