Gurcharan clinches gold; India finishes third

JAEJEON CITY (SOUTH KOREA), JAN. 26. Indian pugilist Gurcharan Singh Came up with a brilliant performance to clinch the light heavyweight gold in the fifth Seoul international boxing tournament here on Wednesday.

The Bangkok Asian games bronze medallist outpunched Korea's Ki Soo Choi in the final to win 6-5 on points after middleweight Jitender Kumar and light-flyweight S. Suresh Singh lost to their Korean rivals to win silver medals.

However, all the three qualified for Sydney Olympics by virtue of reaching the final as the Seoul Cup was also the second qualifying event for the Olympic Games. India finished third in the overall championships with one gold and two silver medals behind host South Korea (5-1-0) and Thailand (1-2-1). A total of 24 teams participated in the championships which concluded on Wednesday.

Commonwealth Games silver medallist Jitender Singh came up with another gutsy display against Korean Jeong Binlim in the 75 Kg final and tied with his rival at 4-4 after the final round of the low-scoring bout but was unlucky to finish second medal to his rival 23-21 on scores by individual judges.

Suresh Singh, however, could not come up to his best against local pugilist Ki Seok Kim in 48 kg category and lost 9-2 on points. Kim was later adjudged the best boxer of the championship.

Cheered by a big home crowd, the Koreans swept all the finals they reached barring the 81 Kg class in which Ki Soo Chol could not surpass the Indian challenge.

Gurcharan gave an excellent performance, moving in and out appropriately and always kept away from his rival. Both the boxers started cautiously and were not willing to take any risks and thus the score was tied 2-2 at the end of the second round.

But Gurcharan Singh broke away in the third round with some purposeful long range punches and unsettled his rival to take a 5-1 lead which was good enought for the heavier weight category. Though the Korean Came out charging in the final round, Gurcharan avoided him by moving away swiftly.

In the 75 Kg class, Jitender Kumar was involved in a low scoring Bout with his Korean rival Joeng Binlim. He managed to get a slender lead in the opening round but the Korean caught up with him at the end of the second round.

In the third round the Korean guarded himself well and did not allow the Indian any chances. Both boxers traded punches cautiously and were tied at 4-4 after the final round. The judges' individual scores were taken into account to break the tie and the decision went in favour of the Korean.

Ki Seok Kim used his height and long reach effectively to keep Suresh Singh away in the 48 kg summit clash. Suresh desperately tried to break his opponent's defence but failed. The Indian came up with a number of tactics to move in but his efforts were thwarted by the Korean with effective left-right- left combinations.

- PTI

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Section  : Sport
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