World Championships: Sachin Siwach off to flyer, Govind Sahani out

Tashkent, May 8

Sachin Siwach made a winning start to his maiden IBA Men’s boxing World Championships campaign with a facile victory, while two other Indian boxers bowed out here today.

The 2021 World Youth Championships winner showcased his technical prowess to register a 5-0 unanimous verdict win in the 54kg category against Serghei Novac of Moldova to cruise into the pre-quarterfinals. However, it was curtains for Govind Sahani (48kg) and Naveen Kumar (92kg) as they lost by unanimous verdicts.

Sachin took charge of the proceedings from the go as he relentlessly attacked Novac in their bout.

Using his height to an advantage, the 23-year-old relied on a combination of punches to take the first round. The second round followed a similar pattern as Sachin landed a flurry of punches, the most impressive being a combination of a straight jab, a left and then a right hook. His defence was as strong and he danced around the ring, ducking Novac’s punches.

Despite the first two rounds being ruled in his favour, Sachin did not hold back in the final round too. He continued pummelling the hapless Moldavian with his range of punches, including the upper cut, to claim a comprehensive win.

Naveen, who was up against 2021 World Championships bronze medallist Enmanuel Reyes, was completely outplayed by the Spaniard. He got a standing count in the first round and struggled to connect his punches.

In the evening session, Govind went down to top seed and World Championships bronze medallist Sakhil Alakhverdovi of Georgia in a high-paced bout.