Vikas Krishan joins Ashish Kumar, Satish Kumar in India men's squad for boxing's Olympic Qualifiers

Vikas Krishan (L) defeated Duryodhan Singh Negi and claimed a slot in the Indian men's boxing squad for next year's Olympic qualifiers. Twitter @BFI_official[/caption]The former World Championships and Asian Games medal-winner, who competed in the middleweight 75kg category for a long time, is back to the 69kg division after recovering from a back injury sustained during his short undefeated stint in the professional circuit.The 26-year-old, already a two-time Olympian, out-punched national medallist Duryodhan Singh Negi in a unanimous decision in the trial finals.Also making the squad for the Asia/Oceania zone qualifiers, scheduled from 3 to 14 February in China, were Commonwealth Games medal-winning duo of Gaurav Solanki (57kg) and Naman Tanwar (91kg).While Solanki defeated Mohammed Hussamuddin, Tanwar edged past Naveen Kumar. Both the bouts were split verdicts.On Sunday, Asian silver-medallist Ashish Kumar (75kg), veteran Satish Kumar (+91kg) and Sachin Kumar (81kg) booked their places in the squad.Ashish defeated reigning national champion and South Asian Games gold-medallist Ankit Khatana in a unanimous verdict.Satish, a Commonwealth and Asian Games medallist, booked his berth with a split verdict triumph over Narender. Sachin claimed the 81kg spot with a victory over Brijesh Yadav.Amit Panghal (52kg) and Manish Kaushik (63kg) have already claimed their place in the team after winning medals at the world championships in September.While Panghal claimed a path-breaking silver, Kaushik brought home a bronze, fulfilling the criteria for selection set by the Boxing Federation of India.Indian squad for Asia-Oceania Olympic Qualifiers: Amit Panghal (52kg), Gaurav Solanki (57kg), Manish Kaushik (63 kg), Vikas Krishan (69kg), Ashish Kumar (75kg), Sachin Kumar (81kg), Naman Tanwar (91kg), Satish Kumar (+91kg).