Vikas closes in on Rio berth

Seeded second in his draw, Vikas out-witted Georgia’s Kvachatadze Zaal 3-0 late on Tuesday to advance to the last-eight stage where he will take on Korea’s Lee Dongyun. “Vikas dominated all three rounds and did not have to work too hard for this win. The Georgian guy tried his best but Vikas kept his composure and in the end it was easy for him,” national coach Gurbax Singh Sandhu said. Vikas, a former World Championships bronze-medallist, joined Manoj Kumar (64kg) and Sumit Sangwan (81kg) in the quarterfinals. All three have to make the semis to book an Olympic berth besides being assured of a medal. Commonwealth Games silver-medallist L Devendro Singh (49kg), seeded fourth, is through to the semifinals but has to be in the summit clash of his weight category to clinch a Rio spot.