World youth champion Sachin Siwach made a winning debut but India ended up on the losing side, going down 1-4 to Russia in their second World Series of Boxing (WSB) clash in Kazan. The loss to Russia's Patriot Boxing Team was the Indian Tigers' second successive in WSB after a 1-4 defeat at the hands of Kazakhstan's Astana Arlans in the team's opening clash. The 19-year-old Sachin, competing in his maiden WSB bout, gave India a fine start last night as he defeated Russian debutant Dorzho Radnaev with a terrific come-from-behind performance in the light flyweight (49kg) category. Sachin rallied after losing the first two rounds to stun the local favourite in a split 2-1 verdict, out-punching him in the last three rounds. However, India could not build on the triumph and the Russians sauntered to a comfortable victory in the end. Another standout performance for India last night was by Sanjeet (91kg), also a WSB debutant. The 21-year-old Army boxer, who claimed a stunning gold medal at India Open in January after defeating some fancied names, lost 3-0 to Anton Zaitsev but gave a good account of himself. The youngster fought with a lot of heart and gave his rival quite a pounding to leave him with a bloodied face by the end of the third round. He had the upper-hand in the fourth and fifth round but fell short in the final scoreline. Earlier, Commonwealth Games silver-medallist Mandeep Jangra (75kg), King's Cup bronze-medallist Rohit Tokas (64kg) and former national champion Madan Lal (52kg) lost their respective bouts in a unanimous verdict. Mandeep even ended up with a cut above his left eye during his clash against Ramazan Saaduev. India's next WSB clash would be a home affair, against Astana Arlans on March 24.
(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
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