Santosh wins gold in President’s Cup

New Delhi, July 8 (IANS) Asian Games silver medallist V. Santosh Kumar (64kg) Friday defeated Malinin Alexander of Russia to win the gold in the 21st President’s Cup International Boxing Tournament in Jakarta, Indonesia.

It was a great achievement for the 19-year-old Indian considering his last tournament was the 2010 Guangzhou Asian Games in December.

Two other Indians Lakhbir Singh (69kg), Jasveer Singh (81kg) lost their respective semi-final bouts and had to be content with the bronze medal.

India’s medals tally thus stood at one gold and three bronze medals. Gaurav Bidhuri, 18, won a bronze Thursday.

Santosh made a place in the final of the light welter weight category defeating Masatsugu Kawachi of Japan.

In the tittle clash, Santosh and Malinin fought hard. Santosh was down a point after the opening round. But the Indian came back in the second, taking advantage of his height to level the scores and take a crucial point lead.

In the end, it was the skill and tactics of Santosh that came through as he won 10-8.

‘I am very happy with my performance. It was more of a mental victory as our strategy worked like a charm. The sound advice of my coach helped me a great deal to understand my opponent better,’ expressed an elated Santosh.

Lakhbir, 23, lost to Russian boxer Alexander Kunkov 7-13 in the semi-final. But the Punjab boxer was satisfied with his performance considering this was his second international tournament. ‘It was a difficult fight for me as the Russian boxer was strong and had a sound technique. But it is a positive result and I am confident of doing better in the future.’

Jasveer went down to Commonwealth Games quarter finalist Australian Damien Hooper 6-12 and had to settle for a bronze medal.