Lalbiakkima settles for bronze in President's Cup

Indian boxer Nutlai Lalbiakkima (49kg), who upstaged Olympic champion Hasanboy Dusmatov in the quarterfinals, settled for a bronze medal along with two others after a semifinal loss in the President's Cup in Astana, Kazakhstan today.

The 22-year-old Lalbiakkima lost to local favourite Erzhan Zhomart to bow out in the semifinal stage.

"For us, the bout belonged to Lalbiakkima. He turned in another exceptional performance but unfortunately this time, he ended on the losing side," coach Jai Singh Patil, who is travelling with the team, told PTI.

Also ending with bronze medals were former world youth champion Sachin Siwach (52kg) and Priyanka in the women's draw.

Sachin lost to Filipino Rogen Ladon in his semifinal clash.

"The competition in this tournament is world class. The draws were big and featured A teams of countries like the USA and Uzbekistan. We can be proud of our our performance so far," Patil said.