World Boxing: Sachin Siwach moves into pre-quarterfinals

Late last year, boxer Sachin Siwach had to undergo an emergency surgery for appendicitis in Patiala. The surgery rendered him inactive for nearly a month. It also made him miss the Asian championships.

Earlier this year, Sachin returned to the boxing ring. The Asian championships didn't bear any fruit, but his target now was the World Championships in Tashkent, Uzbekistan.

Sachin trained hard under his long-time coach Sanjay Sheoran in Bhiwani, Haryana. Sheoran, incidentally, is the son of the legendary Hawa Singh. Sachin's advantage is that he is one of the tallest boxers in his weight category and enjoys a significant advantage in terms of reach. With Sheoran, the 5'8" Sachin worked on his defensive game after the surgery.

All the work he put in behind-the-scenes bore fruit on Monday. At the IBA Men's World Boxing Championships, Sachin beat Moldova's Serghei Novac in the 54kg category to reach the pre-quarterfinals of the tournament.

Sachin dominated the match from the beginning and registered a 5-0 unanimous decision over his opponent. The 2021 World Youth champion started aggressively and never let his guard down in the first round.

He continued with the same strategy in the second round as well. He landed some heavy punches on his opponent and was swift in his movements inside the ring. Sachin was all over Novach in the third and final round with precise hits and received the decision in his favour from all the five judges.

Sachin will now face top seed Makhmud Sabyrkhan of Kazakhstan on Tuesday.

In other matches, Naveen (92kg) went down 0-5 against Enmanuel Reyes of Spain in the pre-quarterfinals. The Indian boxer found it hard to get into a rhythm in the first round and could not find his feet in the second round as well. Naveen tried hard to get back into the game in the last round but it was too late and he lost the bout. Govind Sahani (48kg) also suffered a 0-5 defeat against top seed Sakhil Alakhverdovi of Georgia in the last16 stage. The Georgian boxer was too quick for Sahani.