Dheeraj Rangi wins silver in boxing at Military World Games 2015

Rangi captuerd India’s only silver medal at the event

Dheeraj Rangi, the JSW-supported lightweight (60 kg) category boxer, won the silver medal at the World Military Games on Saturday afternoon. The 20-year-old Dheeraj went down to Algeria's Yahia Abdelli in the gold-medal match at Mungyeong, South Korea. Interestingly, Dheeraj was the only boxer to win a silver medal in boxing at the prestigious Games.

In the final, Dheeraj fought valiantly even though he sustained a severely bruised hand in the opening minute of the bout. Ultimately, the Algerian Abdelli prevailed by a 3-0 verdict in a fight that was much closer than what the scoreline suggested.

Dheeraj who defeated boxers from Tanzania, Cameroon, Germany and Kazakhstan en-route to the final of the lightweight category said that he was disappointed to miss out on a certain gold medal. "I was in really good rhythm all through the competition. In the first three rounds, I managed unanimous victories and they gave me a lot of confidence. Even today, I was very confident of coming out on top against the Algerian however the hand injury that I sustained hampered my approach," he said.

A native of Haryana, Dheeraj trains at the Army Sports Institute (ASI) in Pune. He has been a part of JSW's Sports Excellence Program (SEP) for the past two years.

India won four medals in all in boxing at the Military World Games. Mohammed Husamuddin, Devanshu Jaiswal and Narendra Berwal claimed bronze medals in South Korea.