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India's campaign at the 6th Commonwealth Youth Games in Bahamas ended on a triumphant note yesterday, with young boxer Sachin Siwach winning gold in the light flyweight (49 kg) category. In the final, Siwach defeated Welsh boxer James Nathan Prober 4-1.
This capped a dominant performance by Indian boxers at the games, with all four members of the contingent winning medals. Apart from Siwach's medal, India won one silver and two bronze medals in boxing, courtesy Jony, Muhammad Etash Khan and Ekta respectively.
Other sports in which India performed well were Judo and Tennis. Judokas managed to win one gold and three bronze medals, with Soni of Haryana coming out on top in the under 73 kg weight category after beating Nikolic Uros of Australia in the final. The bronze medallists were Ashish, Antim Yadav and Rubina Devi Chanam. India's two member tennis contingent of Siddhant Jagdis Banthia and Zeel Mehulkumar Desai performed admirably, winning two golds and one bronze. The duo finished first in the mixed doubles tournament, with Desai also winning the women's singles and Banthia taking third place in the men's singles.
With news of Sachin's feat, it is hard to believe that he was initially turned away from the academy where he would eventually start his training, on grounds of being undernourished. Yet, that is exactly what transpired, when Krishnan, a small time farmer living near Bhiwani, Haryana, determined to make his 10-year old son a boxer, took him to Sanjay Sheoran's academy.
Krishnan, who wanted his son to emulate his brother Vijay, a professional boxer, was told by Sheoran about the protein rich diet his son would need to start and continue training. It was initially difficult for Krishnan to regularly provide milk and other food items required for Sachin, with the rest of the family struggling to put two square meals on the table. However, with a stroke of luck, Krishnan found a stray cow which he adopted and the problem of providing enough milk was solved. From those early days, Sachin Siwach has definitely come a long way on the back of his strong performances in the ring.
Siwach's medal continues the excellent run of form he has been in. Late last year, he announced himself to the world when he won a gold medal at the Youth World Boxing Championship in St. Petersburg, beating Cuba's Jorge Grinan. This made him only the third boxer to have achieved this feat.
Later, less than a month back, Siwach had to be content with second place at the Asian Youth Boxing Championship in Bangkok, bowing out in the final to Uzbek boxer Samandar Kholmurodov. Here in Bahamas, the young Indian found himself in his second major final in a month, after defeating SA Kuse 5-0. This time, however, Sachin put in a spirited performance to add to India's gold tally at the games.
Incidentally, Siwach was also the flag bearer of the Indian contingent at this edition of the games. Clearly, there were high expectations from the young boxer, who has met them in style. It certainly seems that the future of Indian boxing is in safe hands!
