In an all-Qatari duel, Sonday Qlement (right) beat Nuraydin Hakan in a unanimous decision at the Doha International Boxing. At right: Qatar’s Abdellatif Sadiq (left) won his lightweight category match against Ahmed Samir Dawrani of Afghanistan with a unanimous decision. PICTURES: Jayaram

By Mikhil Bhat/Doha     

Four Qatar boxers have moved to the next round as the Doha International Boxing Tournament 2015 enters the business end.
After Yahea al-Rafeek won his light fly first round match on Wednesday, yesterday two other boxers representing Qatar, Abdellatif Sadiq and Sonday Qlement fought their way into the semi-finals, while one Mostafa Hegazy received a walkover from his Afghan opponent Zuhoruddin Razuddin.
“We have been preparing for the tournament since January. After my today’s win, tomorrow I have a match against a Moroccan opponent. So I am hoping for all the support I can get,” said Sadiq, who won his lightweight category match against Ahmed Samir Dawrani of Afghanistan with a unanimous decision.
Sadiq’s semi-final opponent is Morocco’s Hamza Rabii, who had received byes in the first two rounds of the tournament. “I have been focusing on being aggressive in the ring. The strategy is to be proactive and aggressive, and not giving the opponents any time to think,” Sadiq added.
In the last fight of the day, an all-Qatari duel, Sonday Qlement beat Nuraydin Hakan in a unanimous decision. Qlement was all praise for the Qatar Boxing Federation for supporting him and for the organisation of the tournament.
“I thank the organisers because I think they have done a good job. You can see from the beginning that the organisation is great. It is just a tip of the iceberg. I believe that people will see a brilliant, different World Championships when they come here,” Qlement, who arrived in Qatar from Nigeria three years ago, said.
Talking about his performance on the night, he said, “I am happy with the result from this match. God has blessed me with this victory. In the coming rounds, everything is in the hands of God. I want to do as good as possible.”
Indian boxers have done well so far in the tournament with all their four pugilists in action winning their respective matches. Shiva Thapa beat Jordan’s Mohamed al-Wadi in a unanimous decision in the bantam weight category, while Manoj Kumar got the better of Morocco’s Younes Baati with a clean 3-0 win in the light welterweight category.
Manish Kaushik moved into the next round with a split decision 2-1 win over Tunisia’s Ahmed Elmejri. In the evening session Mandeep Jangra also posted a win with a unanimous decision over Afghanistan’s Rahemi Allah Dad.
After his win, Thapa said, “We have been training with a lot of focus on future events. We want to do well at the top events. It was a deliberate strategy to defend well and land the punches that matter. I am happy with my form. The Indian boxers are in good form. We had a great win yesterday with Dev and now today.”
Jangra, a silver medallist at the 2014 Commonwealth Games in Glasgow, said, “I wanted to win at all costs, and I have done that. Now if there are any mistakes, I will look to improve on that with the help of the coaches. I was just following what my coach asked me to do. The idea was to have a win through a unanimous decision.”
Indian coach Gurbaksh Singh was also satisfied with the contingent’s performance so far. “The focus is on the world championships and then the Rio qualification. And, like I said before, this tournament is to only gain exposure. With my boxers not having participated in an international tournament since Asian Games, they are a bit rusty and have played below their capabilities so far. But I am satisfied given the gap between the competitions. And so far we have won all our bouts,” he said.
Australia had seven boxers in the fray across weight categories but only one has moved in to the next round. Daniel Lewis beat Tunisian Yahya Mkachri in a split decision yesterday evening. “I thought I won pretty comfortably but the judges came up with a split… what can you do,” he said after his bout.
Talking about Australians not advancing to the next rounds, he said, “Some of the boys had tough opponents in their first fight and they lost. So now there is me and one other Australian in the heavyweight tomorrow… So just two Australians left.”
Lewis, who participated in the welterweight category at the 2014 Commonwealth Games, has moved up to the middleweight. “I have stepped up a division this year. So this is a good test this tournament and a good practice ahead of the World Championships.”
Today, the tournament will see 20 more bouts at the Ali Bin Hamad Al Attiyah Arena, while
tomorrow, the finals will get underway.

RESULTS
Fly (52kg): Mostafa Hegazy (QAT) beat Zuhoruddin Razuddin (AFG) walkover; Montassar Bouali (TUN) beat Imad Ahayoun (MAR) 3-0; Hasan Ali Shaker Hasan (IRQ) beat Meethalawe Viddanalage Bandara (SRI) 3-0
Bantam (56kg): Said Malek (MAR) beat Nebiyoo Ali (QAT) 3-0; Hesham Yehia Mahmoud Abdelaal (EGY) beat Sanjeewa Naiduralage Gayan (SRI) 3-0; Shiva Thapa (IND) beat Mohamed al-Wadi (JOR) 3-0; Bilel Mhamdi (TUN) beat Hansen Jayden (AUS) 3-0
Light (60kg): Hamza Rabii (MAR) beat Dinesh Shreshtha (NEP) 3-0; Abdullatef Sadiq (QAT) beat Ahmed Samir Dawrani (AFG) 3-0; Manish Kaushik (IND) beat Ahmed Elmejri (TUN) 2-1; Mahmoud Abdelaal Mahmoud Abdelaal (EGY) beat Ammar Jabbar Hasan Ammar (IRQ) 2-1
Light Welter (64kg): Eslam Ahmed Aly Mohamed (EGY) beat Jason Mallia (AUS) 3-0; Manoj Kumar (IND) beat Younes Baati (MAR) 3-0; Karrar Kadhim Sahm Karrar (IRQ) beat Qaaish Seif (JOR) 3-0; Nico Magliquian (PHL) beat Waisuddin Ghawsi (AFG) 3-0
Welter (69kg): Walid Said Mohamed Sedik (EGY) beat Ahmed Abdulkareem Ahmed (IRQ) 3-0; Mandeep Jangra (IND) beat Rahemi Allah Dad (AFG) 3-0
Middle (75kg): Youness Gharroumi (MAR) beat Odai al-Hindawi (JOR) 2-1; Daniel Lewis (AUS) beat Yahya Mkachri (TUN) 2-1
Light Heavy (81kg): Sonday Qlement (QAT) beat Nuraydin Hakan (QAT) 3-0