World Boxing: Sachin Siwach enters bantamweight pre-quarters

Sachin Siwach (54kg) gave a dominating display to beat Moldova's Serghei Novac and reach the pre-quarterfinals of the World Boxing Championships in Tashkent, Uzbekistan on Monday.

It was the only bright spot for India on the day as Govind Sahani (48kg) and Naveen (92kg) lost.

World youth champion Siwach was in control of the fight from the start. He made good use of his height advantage and began aggressively. The 23-year-old kept up his attacking tempo throughout the bout and made a good impression on the judges in the third round when he went all out and landed good combination punches.

It was in bantamweight that India’s lone medal came in the previous world championships in 2021 where Akash Kumar won a surprise bronze. He has since struggled with injury. Sachin, who won the world youth title in 2021, has stepped up to take the opportunity. He became national champion last October and a bronze at the Strandja Memorial in Bulgaria this year helped him warm up for the Worlds.

Sachin faces a big test next as he faces top seed Makhmud Sabyrkhan of Kazakhstan in the pre-quarters on Tuesday.

In 48kg, Govind lost 0-5 to top seed Sakhil Alakhverdovi of Georgia. Govind, the Asian championships bronze medallist, was not able to land enough clean punches and Alakhverdovi was fast and maintained good distance as well. Naveen (92kg) lost to Enmanuel Reyes of Spain.

In Tuesday’s bout, Deepak Bhoria (51kg), who defeated Tokyo Olympics bronze medallist Saken Bibossinov, will face Jiamao Zhang of China in the pre-quarterfinals. Nishant Dev (71kg) will take on Nidal Foqahaa of Palestine and Akash Sangwan (67 kg) will fight Dulat Bekbauov of Kazakhstan in the Round of 16.

The only Indian boxer to make it to quarters until now is Mohammad Husamuddin (57kg), who will meet Bulgaria's J. Diaz Ibanez on Wednesday.

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