Sachin in boxing nationals quarters; Manish, Gaurav up

PUNE: Former youth world champion Sachin Siwach (52kg) pulling off a knockout win to enter the quarter-finals of the senior men’s national boxing championships here on Monday. The 19-year-old Sachin, competing for Railways, won in the third round of the second-round bout against Chandigarh’s Mansoor Ahmed.

CWG silver-medallist Manish Kaushik (60kg) of the Services also had little trouble putting it past Arunachal’s Hongrang Kongkang on points.

Asian youth silver-medallist and Ulaanbaatar Cup gold-medallist Ankush Dahiya (60kg) was also in the last-eight after a 5-0 win over Chandigarh’s Rohit Kumar. In the bantamweight 56kg category, world championships bronze-medallist outclassed Madhya Pradesh’s Vivek Jha to enter quarters. Bidhuri, who was left bitter at being denied trials for both the Commonwealth and Asian Games, is aiming to put himself in contention with a strong show here.

Former national champion Madan Lal also made the 56kg quarters with a 5-0 win over Meghalya’s Jyrwa Justerwell.

Divij Sharan became India’s new number one doubles player overtaking Rohan Bopanna by moving to 38 in the latest ATP rankings. Bopanna dropped nine places to 39 while Leander Paes is 60th.

VISHAL BAGS GOLD

CAIRO: Vishal Rajveer Shah won the mini cadet boys singles’ title at Egypt Junior and Cadet Open