New Delhi: Olympic bronze-medallist Vijender Singh (75kg) crashed out due to a couple of controversial warnings in his semifinals, prompting an angry Indian team to lodge a protest, even as Suranjoy Singh (52kg) and Manoj Kumar (64kg) made their way to the finals with contrasting wins in the Commonwealth Games' boxing competition here on Monday.
Although India is set for its best-ever medal haul of seven, the colour of the metal yet to be decided, it was a throughly disappointing day for the nation's boxers as they found themselves at the receiving end of some harsh refereeing -- the most stunning being Vijender's 3-4 loss to England's 22-year-old former cadet champion Anthony Ogogo.
The Indian team has filed a protest against the refereeing.
"We have a filed protest. A jury will now sit after the last bout of the day and they will review the bout. Altering the result is also a possibility," Indian Boxing Federation Secretary General Col PK Muralidharan Raja told PTI.
If the result stands then Vijender, who won a silver in the previous CWG, would have to settle for a bronze this time.
All of Ogogo's four points came through warnings handed to Vijender in the third round by Canadian referee Michael Summers.
The world number one Indian was leading 3-2 with barely 20 seconds left on the clock when he was handed a warning for holding his rival after an engrossing fight. The decision seemed harsh after Vijender was penalised earlier in the bout as well for hitting his rival on the back of his head.
The capacity crowd at Talkatora Stadium booed Ogogo and chanted 'cheater, cheater' even as a visibly upset Vijender made his way out of the arena without speaking to the waiting media.
Ogogo, exulting after perhaps the biggest win of his career, said a "boxer of Vijender's stature should not have acted the way he did in the ring".
"If you think the warnings were harsh then even I didn't get points for some of the clear punches I landed. Even if he had not been warned, I think I would have won," Ogogo said.
Earlier, Commonwealth Championships gold medallist Amandeep Singh (49kg), Asian silver-medallist Jai Bhagwan (60kg) and nine-time national champion Dilbag Singh (69kg) had to be content with bronze medals after losing exciting semifinal bouts.
But Suranjoy Singh (52kg) and Manoj Kumar (60kg) assured India of at least silver medals by beating Kenya's Benson Njangiri and Pakistan's haroon Iqbal respectively.
Paramjeet Samota (+91kg) made it three Indians in the finals for the first time in the history of the Games as he defeated F A Junior of Tonga 6-2.
Suranjoy was his usual clinical self as he dismantled Iqbal, the younger brother of professional star Amir Khan, 9-3 in yet another dominating performance. Manoj, however, had to toil hard to notch up a 2-1 win over Knowles.
The diminutive Suranjoy, chasing his seventh successive gold, downed the Iqbal rather easily with his brand of tempo-boxing that left the Pakistani gasping for breath. The Manipuri Asian champion will face Benson Njangiri of Kenya in the finals.
"I didn't allow him to close to me. I defended myself well and attacked whenever I got an opportunity," he said.
But Manoj had to apply his mind against a tactful rival and just about managed to make it through for the biggest triumph of his career, which had gone haywire after a wrist injury.
"I never put myself under pressure by thinking too much about whether I would win or lose and I am glad to have made it this far," he said.
Manoj will be up against Bradley Saunders of England in his summit clash.
Earlier, Commonwealth Championships gold medallist Amandeep Singh (49kg), Asian silver medallist Jai Bhagwan (60kg) and nine-time national champion Dilbag Singh (69kg) had to be content with bronze medals after losing exciting semifinal bouts.
Amandeep lost 5-0 to Olympic bronze medallist and European champion Paddy Barnes of Northern Ireland, Jai went down 5-10 to European Championship silver medallist Thomas Stalker of England and Dilbag was beaten 4-5 in a thrilling contest against Northern Ireland's Patrick Gallagher.
Amandeep was the first to take the ring for India today and he just could not break Barnes' shell guard despite his best efforts.
The Punjab boxer tried everything from hooks to uppercuts to some hard-hitting straight punches to break through Barnes's defence but the Irish boxer didn't give any chance to the crowd favourite.
The first round had Barnes leading 2-0 and the Olympian's brilliant anticipation of Amandeep's attack ensured that he did not concede a single point even in the next two rounds.
"I tried everything to break his guard but it just didn't happen. I was hitting a lot of uppercuts but it didn't work," said a disappointed Amandeep.
"But I am happy to have won a medal in my very first Commonwealth Games," he added.
National coach Gurbax Singh Sandhu said Amandeep's performance was also affected by the surprise dope test that he had give on Sunday.
"He had to drink lots of water to give his urine sample and then had to sweat it out hard to maintain weight. This was a bit harsh on his body and an athlete cannot even refuse when the World Anti-Doping Agency comes calling," he said.
Next up was Jai and despite putting up a good fight, the Indian was undone by a couple of warnings that seemed too harsh. The Asian silver medallist was warned twice for hitting Stalker below the belt in an ill-tempered bout.
Jai led 3-1 in the opening round but the advantage was reduced to 4-3 when he was warned for hitting Stalker below the target area not once but twice.
The warnings ultimately shifted the momentum in the Englishman's favour, who found himself leading only towards the end of the second round. Once ahead, Stalker lowered his guard and went for all-out attack against Jai, who could not adjust to the sudden change in the pace of the proceedings.
"The warnings were slightly harsh. I think the first time around I hit him only on his hand but may be the referee didn't get a clear view of where exactly the punch landed," Jai said.
"But every loss is a lesson and I will also learn from here. I will go back and see the recordings of the bout," he added.
Even Stalker felt that the local favourite put up a good fight.
"He was a tough opponent and hit some very hard punches," he said.
Dilbag was the last Indian to step inside the arena in the first session and gave it his all against Gallagher only to lose it by a whisker.
The entertaining bout had both the boxers employing some unorthodox tactics and the crowd was kept amused with a bit of wrestling as well.
The first round ended 1-1 as both tried to gauge each other but Gallagher began to get a grip of the proceedings with some smartly executed jabs even while keeping a shell guard to thwart the Indian.
Dilbag bounced back in the final three minutes but Gallagher's evasive tactics ensured that the Indian could not breach his lead.
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