Guangzhou: Paramjeet Samota assured India of a medal after punching his way into the semifinals of the super heavyweight category while Suranjoy Singh survived a tense bout to book a berth in the quarters of the flyweight division in the boxing competition at the Asian Games here on Thursday.
Samota, who got a first round bye in the nine-boxer +91kg competition, won a one-sided bout as his flurry of punches proved to be too much for his South Korean opponent Park Sungkeun, which forced the referee to stop the contest in the second round.
The Indian led 5-2 at the end of first round and he continued his same aggressive self by nearly knocking his opponent out with a right hook in the second round.
The South Korean struggled to recover but after another flurry of punches from the Indian, who was leading 9-4, the referee stopped the contest midway into the second round and Samota was declared the winner.
Samota is now up against Zhang Zhilei of China in the semifinals on November 24.
Suranjoy, on the other hand, had to earn every point against Kim Juseong of South Korea after registering an easy win in the opening round of the 52kg category on Tuesday.
The pint-sized Indian found it tough to score points and had to negotiate the desperate onslaught from his opponent in the last round before sealing the bout 8-6.
The Indian, who won a gold in the Commonwealth Games last month, led 4-1 at the end of the second round but found himself in a tight corner in the last three minutes which saw the South Korean scoring five points as compared to four by Suranjoy.
Suranjoy faces Isakov Shahriyor of Uzbekistan in the quarterfinals on Saturday.
World number one Indian, Vijender Singh had also entered the quarterfinals in the 75kg category and is now up against Cho Deokjin of South Korea.
After his comprehensive victory, Samota wished he could have given a better account of himself in the bout.
"I am happy to win the bout. It was a good fight. But I didn't give (off) my best. So, maybe, I will perform better in the next hour," he said.
He said he just has to remain mentally calm before any fight.
"I have no special strategy. I only need to be mentally relaxed when I box," he said.
"I am proud that I won. Every opponent is powerful," he added.
India coach Gurbax Singh Sandhu said that Samota improved his stance as the bout progressed after not being at his best earlier in the fight.
"He performed well but had problems in the first round as his stance was not good. It was his first bout (after drawing a bye) in the competition. He didn't fight the way we planned in the first round," Sandhu said.
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