Sachin in final, 5 settle for bronze at Asian Youth Boxing

Bangkok, July 6 (PTI): World youth champion Sachin Siwach (49kg) was the lone Indian to enter the final, while five others settled for bronze medals after losing their last-four stage bouts in the Asian Youth Boxing Championship here on Thursday. Sachin defeated Thailand’s Panmod Thitisan to enter the final, where he will face Uzbekistan’s Samandar Kholmurodov in tomorrow. However, none of the other Indians in fray could advance and settled for bronze medals.
Ankit Kumar (60kg) lost to Thailand’s Sakda Ruamthamin a close bout. The Indian went down in a split verdict despite a fairly dominant show, especially in the second and third round.
Naveen Boora (69kg) was the next man in for India and he too ended up on the losing side, beaten by Thailand’s Peerap Yaesungnoen.
In the super heavyweight (+91kg) category, Harshpreet Sahrawat lost to Uzbekistan’s Lazizbek Mullajanov.
Harshpreet was fighting his first bout of the tournament after getting a direct entry to the semi-finals owing to the small size of the draw.
Mohammed Etash Khan (56kg) also found the going tough against Thailand’s Pluem Wangkhlaklang and ended up with a bronze medal.
The last man to compete for India on Thursday was Sachin (75kg) and although he gave a good fight to China’s Zhu Chao, the effort could not get the judges’ nod, who ruled in his opponent’s favour in a split decision. The tournament features 120 boxers from 23 countries.