Sport - Boxing

Sunil leads the Indian charge

New Delhi: World cadet champion Sunil Kumar led the charge as three Indians entered the finals and three others claimed bronze to take the reigning champions’ medal tally to five in the 5th Commonwealth boxing championship in Liverpool, England.

Santosh Singh (54kg), Dilbagh Singh (64kg) and Baljeet (+91kg) lost their semifinal bouts on Thursday to settle for bronze, adding to the two India had won already.

But the trio of Sunil (51kg), T. Nanao Singh (48kg) and Rakesh Kalaskar (60kg) assured the team of at least three silver medals by reaching the final of their respective events.

The 17-year-old Sunil blanked Malaysian K.A.M. Abd 21-0 to set up a summit clash with local challenge P. Butler.

Nanao Singh got the better of another Malaysian M.Z. Azizi 26-18 to advance to the final, where he would take on Northern Ireland’s P. Barnes.

Rakesh warded off the late challenge from Tanzanian P.C. Mtagwa to beat him 22-20. He will take on England’s T. Stalker in the final.

The results (only bouts featuring Indians) (semifinals): 48kg: T. Nanao Singh bt M.Z. Azizi (Mas) 26-18. 51kg: Sunil Kumar bt K.A.M. Abd (Mas) 21-0. 54kg: L. Boyed (Aus) bt Santosh Singh 22-17. 60kg: Rakesh Kalaskar bt P.C. Mtagwa (Tnz) 22-20. 64kg: T. Kidd (Aus) bt Dilbagh Singh 21-3. +91kg: D. Price (Eng) w/o Baljeet. — PTI