Beijing Olympic bronze medalist Vijender Singh has become first Indian pugilist to reach into the semifinal of World Boxing Championship (WBC) after punching out Ukraine’s Sergiy Derevyanchenko in the quarterfinal at Milan, Italy on Thursday.

The Haryana boy tamed Sergiy 12-4 to assure at least a bronze medal for India. He will now clash with the former world champion in light heavy weight category Abbos Atoev of Uzbekistan in the semifinal on Friday night.

The first round ended with one point each but Vijender came with his straight left punches and upper cuts in the next round to take lead in the match. He held his lead in third and final round also to win the match.

Vijender will be favorite for the semifinal match as he had defeated Uzbek boxer in the Asian Boxing championships in China earlier this year. Indian chief coach G.S. Sandhu said that he is confident that Vijender will make into the final as he did not get rattled with adverse conditions.