Indian boxer Akash Kumar (54kg) made the pre-quarterfinals of the AIBA Men’s World Championships after his German opponent Omar Salah Ibrahim fell ill and gave him a walkover in Belgrade on Friday.

Akash will face Puerto Rico’s Pagan Caleb Tirado in the last 16 stage. His bout was to open the day’s proceedings for India.

“His opponent did not show up for the weigh-in this morning as he was sick. Something like what happened to us in Varinder Singh’s case. In that case, we suffered, today we gained,” India High Performance Director Santiago Nieva told PTI.

Varinder had to pull out of his 60kg category bout due to high fever but he tested negative for Covid-19.

Boxing World C’ships: India’s Narender Berwal, Rohit Mor through to pre-quarterfinals

Earlier, Akash Sangwan (67kg) recorded a confident 4-1 victory against German pugilist Daniel Krotter to also enter the pre-quarterfinals. The 21-year-old will square off against Cuban boxer Kevin Brown.

Later on Friday, Asian champion Sanjeet (92kg) will take on Russia’s Andrei Stotskii, followed by Nishant Dev (71kg) squaring off against Mauritian Merven Clair. Both of them would be looking to secure pre-quarterfinal berths.

On Saturday, five-time Asian medallist Shiva Thapa (63.5kg) will be in action alongside three other Indians. Thapa will fight Sierra Leone’s John Brown in the round of 32.

Sumit (75kg) will take on Tajikistan’s Abdumalik Boltaev, while Sachin (80kg) will open against American Robby Gonzales. Both these bouts will also be round of 32 contests.

Govind Sahani (48kg) will compete in the pre-quarterfinals against Georgia’s Sakhil Alakhverdovi. The gold winners at the showpiece will walk away with a prize money of $100,000.

The silver medallists are to be given $50,000, and both bronze-medallists will be awarded $25,000 each. The total prize purse stands at $2.6 million.

India are being represented by their reigning national champions across weight categories.