Nishio, Sep 27 (IANS) India’s Narender Berwal confirmed a medal when he stormed into the semifinals of the men’s +90kg after a stellar quarterfinal win over Adthapong Saengtep, while Sachin Siwach lost his bout to Japan’s Shunsuke Kitamoto in the 60kg category at the Nishio Gymnasium here on Sunday.
Narender thrashed his opponent with a stellar performance inside just two minutes in the first round. He threw some precise heavy punches to his opponent, who got two standing counts, and then Narender was declared the winner when the referee stopped the contest the third time.
Narender is a 2023 Hangzhou Games bronze medallist, and he also won a silver at the recently concluded Commonwealth Games 2026. He will now have a tough encounter against World Champion Aibek Oralbay in the semifinals as he bids for his maiden Asiad final.
This is India’s third boxing medal after Ankush Panghal and Parveen Hooda also confirmed medals in their respective categories. Ankush, the current Commonwealth Games champion, assured India of their first boxing medal at the ongoing Games after defeating Tajikistan’s Nekruz Salimov in the men’s 80kg quarterfinals by a unanimous decision of 5-0.
Meanwhile, the fourth Indian pugilist in action today, Sachin Siwach, lost his men’s 60kg quarterfinal to Japan’s Shunsuke Kitamoto, who is a 2025 World Championships bronze medallist.
Sachin, the Commonwealth Games 2026 gold medallist, lost the quarterfinal by a unanimous decision of 0-5. He lost the first round 1-4, before going down 0-5 in the next round. Sachin tried to make a comeback in the third round and got it 4-1 in his favour, but that did not change the final ruling of 29-28 in favour of the Japanese.
Ankush dominated Salimov for the major part of the three-round bout. He bagged the first two rounds unanimously before the Tajik boxer took the third round but could not change the result of the game.
Meanwhile, Parveen also booked herself a medal in the women’s 65kg category after defeating Uzbekistan’s Navbakhor Khamidova by 5-0 in the quarterfinal.
The Indian controlled the contest with a measured approach, using her reach and speed to keep Khamidova at a distance and pick her punches. The Uzbek, a 2025 World Championships silver medallist, struggled to impose herself as Parveen relied on quick combinations and counter-attacks to take the bout on all five judges’ scorecards.
–IANS
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