Boxing: Sunil in finals, 4 others settle for bronze in China Cup

New Delhi: Former Commonwealth champion Sunil Kumar (51kg) was the lone Indian boxer to make the finals as four others settled for bronze medals and USD 1,000 each at the AIBA 3 Star China Cup in Guiyang City.

Sunil defeated local favourite Chang Yong 7-2 and now has a tough bout at hand as he would be up against Chinese Olympic Champion Zou Shiming. He is now assured of at least a silver and USD 2,000 in the ranking points event. The Haryana-boxer, competing in his first international tournament in over a year, took a slender 2-1 lead in the first round. Unfazed by the partisan crowd that got behind Yong, Sunil increased his lead to 6-2 in the second round before adding another point in the final three minutes.However, there was disappointment for the rest of the Indians in fray. South Asian Games gold medallist Chhote Lal Yadav (57kg) lost 0-6 to Russian Polyansky Dimitry. Olympian Diwakar Prasad (60kg) also had to settle for a third-place finish after going down 2-6 to local favourite Liu Qiang. Diwakar was neck and neck with Chinese the until the first two rounds, trailing by just a point but lost the plot in the third round in which Dimitry picked up three points while the Indian failed to get on the scoresheet. Similar was Kuldeep`s tale in the middle weight (75kg) semifinals. He was locked 2-2 with Zhang Jianting but a severe blow on his head on a counter-attack left him knocked out.The Indian did manage to get up as the referee started the mandatory eight count but the hit had left him in no position to continue the bout. Two-time national champion Jasveer Singh (81kg) couldn`t present much of a challenge against Chinese Mang Fen Long and went down 2-18 against the local hope. The China Cup features 102 boxers from 19 countries. PTI PTI