Sachin Siwach in quarters of Kazakh boxing tourney

Former world youth champion Sachin Siwach (49kg) was among the two Indian boxers to enter the quarterfinals, while three others lost their opening-round bouts of the President's Cup Tournament in Astana, Kazakhstan.

Sachin, who was voted the best youth boxer of the Asian Confederation last year, edged past local hope O Bayniyazov 3-2 to make the last-eight stage last night.

Also advancing to the quarters was Devanshu Jaiswal in the light heavyweight (81kg) category. He defeated Belarus' Pavel Brazovskiy.

Bowing out with first-round losses were Thomas Meitei Mayengbam (64kg), Dinesh dagar (69kg), and India Open gold-medallist Sanjeet (91kg).

Thomas was beaten 0-5 by Thailand's Masuk Wuttichai, while Dinesh lost by a similar margin to Uzbekistan's Makhmud Gaipov.

Sanjeet suffered a stunning knockout at the hands of Olympic silver-medallist Vasily Levit. The punch that knocked out the Indian came in the second round, which was into its final minute.