India gets 3 bronze, assured of 1 silver in World Jr Boxing

New Delhi, May 29: Sandeep Singh was the lone Indian to enter the final of World Junior Boxing Championships, thus booking a silver medal at least, while three of his compatriots settled for bronze after losing their semifinal bouts in Yerevan, Armenia today.
Opening the day for India, Sandeep (46kg) defeated Javlonbek Eshmatov of Uzbekistan 8-4 to set up a summit clash with Armenian Koryun Soghomonyan.

Soghomonyan ousted Russia's Mogomed Djabrailov with a comprehensive 10-4 win.

"Sandeep fought from a distance. He never allowed the Kazakh guy to come too close," Indian coach M S Dhaka told PTI from Yerevan.

"Being a southpaw, he also gets a unique advantage of surprising his opponent with the occasional right hooks that get him points," he added.

The Indian had a 5-0 cushion after the opening round and he played it safe thereafter to keep his rival at arm's bay.

However, there was disappointment elsewhere as Namit Bahadur (50kg), Vikas Khatri (54kg) and Shiva Thapa (52kg) lost in the semifinals to settle for bronze medals at the premier junior event of the International Boxing Association (AIBA).

While Namit lost 3-7 to Kazakhstan's Talgat Bertleuov, Vikas Khatri (54kg) went down 2-5 to Yunior Ernesto Valdes Boleri of Cuba. PTI