Amit Panghal and Shiva Thapa recorded convincing wins, while Sachin Siwach punched above his weight to advance to the semifinals of the second India Open international boxing tournament at the Karmabir Nabin Chandra Bordoloi Indoor Stadium here on Wednesday.

Asian Games and Asian championships gold medallist Panghal defeated Chakapong Chanpirom of Thailand 5-0 in a 52kg quarterfinal contest.

Former World championships bronze medallist Thapa overcame a strong challenge from Hellene Damien of Mauritius to secure a 5-0 victory in 60kg.

Former World youth champion Siwach upset ex-Worlds bronze medallist Rogen Ladon of Philippines in a split, 4-1, verdict in a 52kg bout.

Solanki, Bidhuri advance

Siwach will meet Commonwealth Games gold winner Gaurav Solanki, who beat hard-hitting Mauritian Louis Fleurot 5-0, in the last four.

Another Worlds bronze winner Gaurav Bidhuri thwarted an attacking Turkmenistan boxer Bayramhan Permanov 3-2 in 56kg.

Panghal and Thapa stood out for the fine execution of their plans.

Meeting Chanpirom for the first time, Panghal gauged his opponent before landing some clean shots on counter-attack. As the Thai switched to a more attacking mode, Panghal used combination of punches to emerge as the winner.

Backed by loud cheering from home fans, local lad Thapa boxed with maturity and composure to get the better of tall southpaw Damien. Moving back and forth, Thapa stayed out of the Mauritian’s grasp and delivered his punches whenever he found an opening.

“The execution of my plan to box from inside was perfect,” said Thapa, who would meet Krystian Sczepanski of Poland in the semis.

Siwach learnt from his past mistake against Ladon in the President’s Cup in Kazakhstan to topple the Filipino.

Meanwhile, the event lost some sheen due to the absence of the powerful Uzbek team. The reason of its no-show, which resulted in a lot of walkovers, was not known.

Other important results: Men’s quarterfinals: 49kg: Deepak bt Samak Saehan (Tha) 4-1; Carolo Paalam (Phi) bt Neeraj Swami 4-1; 52kg: P.L. Prasad bt Tej Bahadur Deuba (Nep) 5-0; 56kg: Kavinder Singh Bisht bt Mario Fernandez (Phi) 3-2; Chatchai Decha Butdee (Tha) bt Mohd. Hussamuddin 3-2; 60kg: Manish Kaushik bt Thiwa Janthacumpa (Tha) 5-0; 69kg: Clair Marven (Mri) bt Pawan Narwal 3-2; 75kg: Ashish Kumar bt Francisco Veron (Arg) 4-1; 91kg: Sumit Sangwan bt Aleksander Celejewski (Pol) 5-0.