Ankush punches his way to glory

Devendro Singh has to settle for silver

Ankush Dahiya.

Fast-rising Ankush Dahiya (60kg) clinched a gold while the experienced L. Devendro Singh (52kg) settled for a silver medal on the final day of the Ulaanbaatar Cup boxing tournament in Mongolia.

The 19-year-old Ankush, a former Asian youth silver-medallist, defeated Korean Man Choe Chol in a split verdict, while Devendro lost to Indonesia’s Aldoms Suguro, again on a split decision.

Aggressive

Devendro, a Commonwealth Games silver-medallist besides a former Asian Championships silver winner, was his usual aggressive self against Suguro.

The diminutive Manipuri, who is getting back to form after recovering from some niggles, exhausted his rival with a fine display of tempo-boxing, not letting the intensity slip even once.

However, much to the Indian camp’s disappointment, Devendro’s overall dominance did not find favour with the judges who ruled 3-2 in Suguro’s favour.

The disappointment soon made way for celebration when Ankush edged past Man Choe Chol.

Using his reach

The youngster put his long reach and height advantage to good use and landed some lusty straight blows, which swung the contest in his favour.

This is Ankush’s maiden international medal at the senior level.