Hussam punches silver, Kavi gold

New Delhi, March 10: Kavinder Singh Bisht

(56kg) struck gold while Shiva Thapa (60kg) and three others claimed silver medals to end a fine Indian campaign at the 38th GeeBee Boxing Tournament in Helsinki, Finland, on Sunday.

Signing off with silver medals were three-time Asian medallist Thapa

(60kg), rookie Govind Sahani (49kg), Telangana’s Mohammed Hussamuddin

(56kg) and Dinesh Dagar

(69kg).

In a rare all-Indian final, a gritty Bisht was up against Hussamuddin in the summit clash. Both the boxers are from the Services Sports Control Board and the familiarity with each others’ techniques was apparent in the intense bout. But it proved to be Bisht’s day and the Navyman overcame a cut sustained above his right eye in the final round to emerge triumphant against his Army rival.

The boxer from Uttarakhand is a world championship quarterfinalist in the flyweight category and this was his maiden international gold after making the jump to bantamweight.

Thapa (60kg) lost 1-4 to local favourite Arslan Khataev. In an intense battle, Thapa claimed the final round honours but the judges ruled the first two rounds in favour of Khataev.

Dagar was up against Commonwealth Games gold-medallist England Pat McCormack in the finals.

Ending with bronze medals after semifinal losses were Sumit Sangwan

(91kg), former youth world champion Sachin Siwach

(52kg) and Naveen Kumar

(+91kg).