New Delhi: Boxer Sachin Siwach survived a strong challenge from Canada’s Keoma Al-Ahmadieh to enter the 60kg division pre-quarterfinals of the Commonwealth Games competition in Glasgow on Saturday.
Siwach, who hails from the boxing hub of Bhiwani, prevailed 4-1 in the first round bout at the SEC Centre. The 26-year-old Indian had beaten Al-Ahmadieh at the Boxam Tournament in Spain earlier this year and at the World Cup in Kazakhstan last year.
The Canadian looked sharper in the opening exchanges but Siwach gradually settled into the contest, using crisp counter-punching to wrest back control. His accuracy in the closing stages of the round helped him edge it 3-2, with three judges awarding him a 10-9 score.
Al-Ahmadieh came out aggressively in the second, taking the centre of the ring and looking to dictate the pace. Siwach, however, evaded the Canadian’s attacks while catching him with swift counter combinations. He will next face England’s William Hewitt in the round of 16.
India maintained its momentum in bowls with Rupa Rani Tirkey and Pinki Singh registering a third straight win. They defeated Tonga 2-0 in the tie-breaker of women’s pairs third round match in Section B to stay on course for a semis berth.
Tonga made the brighter start, taking a 1-0 lead after the opening end. But India responded strongly in the second end to level the scores. India maintained their dominance to claim the first set 5-2.
Tonga, however, staged a remarkable comeback to take the second set 6-4 and force a tiebreaker where the Indians rose to the challenge with Rupa putting the team ahead and Pinki closing it out.
However, Putul Sonowal tasted his first defeat after back-to-back victories, losing his men’s singles third round match to Izzat Shameer Dzulkeple of Malaysia. Sonowal lost 0-2 (4-8, 8-9) in the Section D match that lasted around one hour at the Scottish Event Campus (SEC) Hall 3.
India’s 3X3 wheelchair basketball team had a difficult start to their campaign as they lost 16-1 to Wales in their first Group B match. They will take on Scotland and Nigeria in their next two games on Monday.
There was disappointment in the pool as well with Dhakshan Shashikumar finishing seventh in Heat 3 of 400m freestyle clocking 3:58.09. National record holder Aryan Nehra also fell short of the top-eight cut-off after clocking 4:00.26 in Heat 4.
India also missed out on a para-swimming medal after Karthik Budigina finished fourth in men’s 100m freestyle S13 final. In the able-bodied event, Olympian Srihari Nataraj failed to make the men’s 50m backstroke final, finishing a disappointing seventh in the semi-finals.
In artistic gymnastics, Tapan Mohanty and Yogeshwar Singh qualified for the men’s all-around final after finishing 17th and 18th respectively late on Friday.
Mohanty totalled 71.700 points, while Yogeshwar was close behind at 71.400. India finished seventh in the men’s team competition with a cumulative score of 208.550. Canada won the gold with 241.400, while England (238.250) and Australia (235.650) claimed silver and bronze respectively.
