Asian Games gold-medallist Amit Panghal (52kg) and CWG silver medallist Manish Kaushik were assured of world championship medals after the Indian boxers advanced to the semifinals, in Ekaterinburg on Wednesday.
The second-seeded Panghal, who is also the reigning Asian champion, defeated Philippines' Carlo Paalam 4-1 to be assured of at least a bronze in the marquee tournament.
Panghal had earlier defeated Paalam in the Asian Games semifinals last year.
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Meanwhile, Kaushik, a former national champion, got the better of Brazil's Wanderson De Oliveira in the 63kg category by a unanimous verdict 5-0 to enter the semifinal.
Kaushik will fight Cuban top seed Andy Gomez Cruz, who defeated Russia’s eighth seed, Ilia Popov. Cruz was the light welterweight (64kg) category gold-medallist in the 2017 edition.
With two medals assured already, this is India's best show at the world championship. The overall medal count for the country stands at four bronze medals claimed by Vijender Singh (2009), Vikas Krishan (2011), Shiva Thapa (2015) and Gaurav Bidhuri (2017).
In the last-four stage, Panghal will be up against Kazakhstan's Saken Bibossinov, who stunned Armenia's European gold-medallist and sixth seed Artur Hovhannisyan in his quarterfinal showdown.
The Indian was a quarterfinalist in the last edition of the world championship, losing a fiercely-contested bout to the then defending champion Hasanboy Dusmatov in the 49kg category.
(With PTI inputs)
