The fast-rising Gaurav Solanki (52kg) notched up his second successive international gold medal, along with Mohammed Hussamuddin (56kg) as India ended a strong campaign with six medals at the Chemistry Cup in Halle, Germany. The Indian contingent picked up two gold, a silver and three bronze medals in all. The presence of powerhouse Cuba lent the competitive edge to the event’s small draws, in which several boxers had to win just one bout to be assured of medals. Solanki, gold-medallist at the Gold Coast Commonwealth Games in April, pulled off a massive victory by edging past Cuba’s fancied Jorge Alejandro Merencio in a draining contest.
CWG bronze-winner Mohammed Hussamuddin (56kg), meanwhile, defeated former national champion Madan Lal in a rare all-Indian final at an away international tournament. Both Solanki and Husammuddin are employed with the Indian Army.
The bronze medals were claimed by Commonwealth Games silver-winner Amit Panghal (49kg), another army man, Dheeraj Rangi (64kg), and Narender (+91kg). Amit had lost 0-5 to Cuba’s Damian Arce Duarte, while Dheeraj had gone down 2-3 in a high-intensity contest against Jordan’s Obada Alkasbeh.
Narender, on the other hand, was knocked out by American Richard Torrez in his last-four stage bout. Narender’s semifinal contest lasted all of two minutes and 55 seconds before the decisive blow ended his campaign.
Sonia, Mandeep enter final
Meanwhile, world silver-medallist Sonia Lather (57kg) and Mandeep Jangra were among the finalists but Shiva Thapa (60kg) signed off with a bronze medal in a mixed first semifinal session for India at the Ulaanbaatar Cup boxing tournament in Mongolia. Also making the final was Lovlina Borgohain (69kg), a gold-medallist at the India Open earlier this year. Ending with bronze medals were Shiva and Bina Devi Koijam (48kg), the latter a direct entrant into the last-four stage owing to the small size of the draw.
