National Boxing C’ship: Sagar, Sachin advance

Shillong: Commonwealth Games silver medallist Sagar and World Youth champion Sachin packed a punch as they advanced in the Men’s National Boxing Championships here on Monday. Railways pugilist in the 92-plus category, Sagar, winner of silver at the 2022 Birmingham Commonwealth Games, hardly broke a sweat on way to vanquishing Uttarakhand’s Shubham Singh with the referee stopping the contest in round one. Sagar will take on Services’ Satish Kumar in a round-of-16 match on Tuesday. Services’ Sachin, the 2021 World Youth gold medallist, was on a roll in the 57kg class from the opening round itself against Punjab’s Vishal Kumar.

His relentless, power-packed punches were too strong for Vishal to handle. Sachin comfortably finished the bout with a unanimous 5-0 win. He will face Rajasthan’s Roshan Saini in the round of 16 on Tuesday.

Reigning World Youth champion in 63.5kg category Vanshaj, representing Services, also dominated the bout against Ashish of All India Police (AIP).