Gold for Mandeep, 4 others take silver at Mongolian boxing-tourney
Mandeep Jangra (69kg) was the lone Indian boxer to claim a gold medal among the five finalists but the country's contingent gave a fine account of itself in the summit clashes of the Ulaanbaatar Cup in Mongolia today. The silver medals went to Sonia Lather (57kg), Lovlina Borgohain (69kg), Himanshu Sharma (49kg) and Etash Khan (56kg). India ended the tournament with 9 medals.
Men's coach Jaidev Bisht's words
"It has been a tremendous performance. Those who made the finals were obviously good but even those who lost in the semifinals gave very good performances. I don't have any complaints with any of them," men's coach Jaidev Bisht said.
Mandeep won the bout on a split decision
Mandeep was up against local boxer Otgonbaatar Byamba-Erdene and set the pace of the bout with his aggressive combination punches. It helped that his opponent looked out of sorts for most parts, attempting wild swings that hardly connected. "Had we been slightly lucky in some bouts, the color of some medals would have been better," Bisht said of some of the unexpected losses.
Indian bronze medalist at Ulaanbaatar Cup
Ending with bronze medals were Shiva Thapa (60kg), Vanhmlimpuia (75kg), Ashish (64kg), and Bina Devi (48kg), a direct entrant into the last-four stage owing to the small size of the women's draw. India ended the tournament with one gold, four silver, and four bronze medals.
