CWG 2022: Sagar, Tokas join Amit Panghal, Jasmine in boxing semi-finals to ensure seven medals

Commonwealth Games. Later in the day, Rohit Tokas, who turned 29 on August 1, notched up a dominating 5-0 win over Xavier Mata'afa-Ikinofo of Niue to also progress to the last four stage and assure of the seventh medal for India from the ring.

The biggest find was Ahlawat in the men's +91kg super heavyweight category as the 22-year-old continued his dream run in his international debut to dish out another superlative show and book a semifinal clash with Ifeany Onyekwere of Nigeria. Having defeated former Olympian Maxme Njieyo of Cameroon by a 5-0 unanimous verdict in his opening round, Ahlawat had it easy in the quarters as he landed powerful blows on Seychelles' Keddy Evans Agnes to make the semifinals with an identical scoreline.

That he began boxing only five years ago, speaks volumes about the grit and gumption of Ahlawat, a son of a poor farmer in Dhandlan village of Jhajjar district in Haryana. "We have just two acres of land and I used to spend the whole day farming with my father. There was a lot of struggle and I had to join boxing to change our fortunes," he told PTI. The pugilist was inducted into the national camp after he started winning at the university level, and there was no looking back for Ahlawat, who is now an employee in Northern Railway. "My dad has told me to give my best, and I am now confident of winning a gold," he said. For Jasmine, however, it was a tough fight and she had to give it her all after a dominating first round to prevail over New Zealand's Troy Garton by a 4-1 split verdict in the women's lightweight (60kg) quarter-final.

Making her CWG debut, Jasmine, the daughter of a security guard in Bhiwani, had an excellent first round as she overwhelmed her opponent with her fluid moves