Dubai: Defending champion Amit Panghal (52kg) and debutant Varinder Singh (60kg) advanced to the semifinals as India's assured medal tally went up to an unprecedented 14 in the Asian Boxing Championships here on Wednesday.
Panghal secured a second successive medal after overcoming a stiff challenge from Mongolia's Kharkhuu Enkhmandakh in the last-eight stage, while Varinder defeated Filipino Jere Samuel Dela Cruz 5-0.
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India's previous best medal haul was 13 that was achieved in 2019.
The World Championship silver-winning Panghal, who is bound for Tokyo Olympics, won 3-2 in a high-octane contest in which he overcame a sluggish start and used his combination punches to telling effect in the last two rounds.
After being somewhat bested in the opening three minutes, the top-seeded Army man's trademark pace came to fore in the second round as he cleverly dodged his rival's aggressive attempts at connecting.
The Mongolian produced some fine body punches to unsettle Panghal but took quite a few hits on the counter-attack.
Panghal will square off against Kazakhstan's Saken Bibossinov. He had beaten Bibossinov in the 2019 world championship finals.