Gaurav, Manish in final; Sachin, Naman fetch bronze at boxing Nationals

World Championships bronze-medallist Gaurav Bidhuri (56kg) advanced to the finals but former youth world champion Sachin Siwach (52kg) settled for a bronze medal on the penultimate day of the senior men's National Boxing Championships here.

Gaurav, representing the Railways Sports Promotion Board (RSPB), defeated Tamil Nadu's R Madhan 5-0 to make the finals but his teammate Sachin, making his debut at the Nationals, lost to Services Sports Control Board's PL Prasad.

Among other prominent boxers to enter the finals was Commonwealth Games silver-medallist Manish Kaushik (SSCB), who defeated Tamil Nadu's M Moovendran in the 60kg category semis.

He will be up against Ulaanbaatar Cup gold-medallist Ankush Dahiya (RSPB) after the 20-year-old got the better of Maharashtra's Harivansh Tiwari in his last-four bout.

Another strong Railways contender, Rohit Tokas (64kg), entered the final after his rival, Andhra Pradesh's M Srinivasa, threw in the towel in the very first round of the bout.

However, in the 69kg category, CWG silver-medallist Mandeep Jangra (Haryana) signed off with a bronze after going down 1-4 to RSPB's Dinesh Dagar, who is an India Open silver-medallist.

In another exciting bout, India Open gold-medallist Sanjeet (SSCB) defeated CWG bronze-medallist Naman Tanwar in the heavyweight (91kg) division semifinals. The Services boxer won 3-2.

In the super heavyweight (+91kg), CWG silver-medallist Satish Kumar got a walkover into the finals, where he will face another seasoned pugilist in Jasveer Singh (RSPB).

Jasveer out-classed Maharashtra's Reynold Joseph in the second round of his semifinal clash.