Mukeed Khan today made into the semifinals of the 67-71kg category in the 13th Senior Muaythai National for Men and Women being held at Lal Bahadur stadium here. The second day of the championship was dominated by athletes from other States, particularly those from Tamil Nadu. Khan defeated K Prathi of Tamil Nadu 4-1 to storm into the last four. Vanlaleng Mawia from Mizoram had an easy passage in the 63.5-65kg when his opponent M H Shaid Akbal of Maharashtra retired midway through the fight. The most impressive wins were posted by C Vendantha (Puducherry), Balakrishna Shetty Maharashtra) and B Madan (TN) when they blanked their respective opponents 5-0 with a skillful use of aggression. Other notable winners were Kamlesh (Chhattisgarh) over Ramesh Kumar of Haryana (67-71kg) and Abhimanyu of Karnataka who prevailed over Gujarat’s Russell R in the 71-75kg category. In what was the closest in terms of point difference was between S V Hari Haran of Tamil Nadu who scraped through a defiant Arjun K K of Maharashtra to score a narrow 3-2 win, also in the 71-75kg category. Meanwhile, four Legislators, Lal Robiaka, P P Thawla, Himangadai Khiangte R Selthvama, all from Mizoram, visited the venue to boost the spirit of the State contestants. The semifinal bouts are scheduled to commence at 1000 hours tomorrow. UNI
