Boxer Devendro misses out on Olympic berth

Laishram Devendro Singh's dream of competing in the Rio Olympics came to an end after he lost in the semi-finals of the Light Flyweight (49kg) category at the World Qualifying Tournament here on Friday.

Devendro put up a brave fight before going down 1-2 to Carmona Heredia Samuel of Spain. Devendro however became the third Indian to claim a bronze medal in the competition after Manoj Kumar (64kg) and Vikas Krishan Yadav (75kg).

There were more disappointing news for Indians in the Light Heavyweight (81kg) division as Sumit Sangwan also saw his Olympic hopes being dashed. Sumit had lost to top seeded Russian Petr Khamukov in the quarter-finals. But he would have remained in contention for an Olympic berth if Khamulov had gone on to win the gold medal.

But the Russian chose to give a walkover in the semi-finals, ending Sumit's chances.

Earlier, Vikas was declared medically unfit and had to concede his bout against Achilov Arslanbek of Turkmenistan while Manoj lost 0-3 to reigning European champion Pat McCormack of Britain.

--IANS

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