Indian Tigers finally roar in WSB, back-to-back wins over Russia, China

It was an unprecedented success for India at the World Series of Boxing (WSB) as the country's franchise -- the Indian Tigers -- recorded two consecutive victories, outwitting Russia and China in the weekend clashes here.

After edging past Russia's Patriot Boxing Team 3-2 late last night, the Indian Tigers hammered group laggards China Dragons 4-1 with former Commonwealth Games silver medallist Mandeep Jangra (75kg) and 19-year-old Mohammed Etash Khan (56kg) recording impressive wins over Haerheng Wulepar and Boxiang Zhu respectively.

With two back-to-back wins, the Indian Tigers, winless before this weekend, are still in with a chance of making the WSB play-offs for which only the top eight franchises will qualify.

India are currently placed ninth in the standings and still have the away leg tie against the Chinese franchise on April 27 left on their schedule.

Should the team win that clash, there is a real possibility of it making the play-offs, which would be a first for India in the semi-professional event where boxers compete in five-round bouts.

Among other winners tonight was two-time King's Cup bronze-medallist Rohit Tokas (64kg) who got a walkover from Shengze Qi after he reported sick before the bout.

The depleted Chinese squad did not have a boxer to field in the 91kg category, which had given Sanjeet a win even before the weigh-ins were done on Friday.

Earlier last night, three-time Asian-medallist Shiva Thapa (60kg) and World Championships quarterfinalist Kavinder Bisht (52kg) pulled off victories in a close win over the strong Russian squad, which had lost just one tie before coming up against India.

The third Indian winner last night was Narender (+91kg). While it was Shiva's debut for the Tigers, Kavinder fought his second bout for the franchise and kept his unbeaten record intact.

However, three-time King's Cup gold medallist Shyam Kumar (49 kg) lost to Zhonglin Wu 1-2 in the lone disappointing loss for India tonight.