For top seed Vijender Singh, playing defensively has been an important tactic over the last few months. On Tuesday night, riding high on that gameplan, the top seed in the middleweight category reached the quarter-finals of the world boxing championships in Milan with a narrow 4-2 win over Canada’s Steve Ross.

The Bhiwani boxer is now the lone Indian left in the biennial event after Dinesh Kumar bowed out of the championships after his bout against Beterbiev Artur of Russia was called off on Wednesday in the second round.

“I wanted to gauge his tactics and that’s why I was a little defensive in the beginning. For me, defence is as important as attack in a bout and even though it was a low-scoring bout, I felt I was in the rhythm. Steve tried to open up my defence in the second round, but I was successful in my tactics. One can’t always attack,” said Vijender, who will now face Ukraine’s Sergiy Derevyanchenko in the quarter-finals.

The Indian made a sedate start to the bout, trailing 1-0 in the opening round as Ross took the initiative and launched a flurry of upper cuts. But Vijender was rock solid in his defence before taking the lead by scoring two points in the second round compared to just one by the Canadian.

Big hopes

“Sergiy has been playing well on the European circuit and knows the conditions well. We know that we are just one round away from a medal. After Beijing Olympics, one of the goals I set for myself was winning a medal at the world championships and I am eager for that to happen,” Vijender said.

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