Chicago: A L Lakra became the first Indian pugilist to qualify for next year's Beijing Olympics after he defeated European silver medallist Shahin Imranov to advance to the quarterfinals of the World Boxing Championships here.
The Commonwealth champion beat Azerbaijan's Imranov 15-9 in the pre-quarterfinals of featherweight category at the University of Chicago's UIC Pavilion to make the cut for Beijing next year.
He now runs into Chinese Yang Li, who defeated Brazilian Davi Souza of Brazil 13-4,in tomorrow s last-eight stage bout. After Lakra's Beijing qualification, an elated Indian coach Gurbaksh Singh Sandhu was all praise for the Services boxer and hoped that two remaining Indians in the fray -- Jitender (51kg) and Jai Bhagwan (60kg) -- would also come through.
