Boxing: Birch shows best form to boost England

Steven Birch added his name to a list of 11 British boxers in today's semi-finals which will take place at the MEN Arena this afternoon and evening.

Birch, from Liverpool, beat Scotland's Stevie McGuire 33-20 in a middleweight quarter-final last night at the Wythenshawe Forum to bring England's total in the semi-finals to seven and keep Scotland's total at two – the same as the Welsh contingent.

England's national coach, Ian Irwin, had spoken boldly before the tournament started of gaining eight medals and in theory he would still be on course had his heavyweight David Haye, easily the team's best fighter, not injured his arm in his opening bout. Irwin had wanted eight but last year at the World Championships in Belfast he wanted one and got two, so he has one medal to play with.

Birch will meet India's Jitender Kumar in today's semi-finals, one of the most difficult opponents the British boxers face.

The Croydon postman Darren Langley easily beat Ghana's Joseph Martey 23-8 in the light-flyweight category and he also has a difficult afternoon in the ring because he has to beat Malaysia's Zamzai Mohamad.

England started yesterday with four boxers already in the semi-finals and they were fortunate with the light-middleweight Paul Smith, from Liverpool, who won a controversial decision over Ghana's Thomas Awimbono. Smith won 21-17 and the announcement forced Awimbono to collapse to his knees in tears.

Smith will meet Scotland's Craig McEwan in one of today's light-middleweight semi-finals. McEwan was the recipient of possibly the tournament's most dubious decision when four rounds of retreating was somehow enough to gain a 16-13 win over South Africa's Khotso Motau. McEwan, like Smith, displayed exceptional bravery and movement but it looked like he had been clearly beaten, especially when he was dropped heavily in round four.

There was heartache for the Welsh welterweight Tony Doherty in his fight against Namibia's Ali Nuumbembe which ended in the opening round because of a nasty cut across Doherty's right eyelid.

Doherty was in control and looked exceptional before Nuumbembe's elbow connected just below the Welshman's protective head guard and opened up the wound. The referee had no alternative and after a brief inspection by the ringside doctor the fight was called off.

It is likely that the pick of today's fights will be at super-heavyweight, where the Welshman Kevin Evans meets David Dolan in a fight between two small men with exceptional technical gifts.