Sunil bags gold in World Cadet Boxing Championship

Jamshedpur, Aug 14 (UNI) Sunil Kumar emerged world champion in the 50 kg weight category defeating Agayev Ilkin of Azerbaizan last night in the World Cadet Boxing Championships held at Istanbul, Turkey.

According to the Indian Amateur Boxing Federation(IABF) sources, Sunil started as an underdog as everybody expected the taller Azerbaijani pugilist to win easily as he had won all his earlier bouts fluently including against Aliev Osman of Russia on points 25:18 in the preliminary round.

But Sunil cheered by his compatriots and egged on by chief coach Mahender Singh Dhaka won the first round by 13:8 points with quick short jabs and straight punches against his taller opponent.

Sunil was a combination of aggression and intelligence personified as he kept his cool and piled up a sizeable lead of 26:11 points in the next round and the bout was declared in his favour on a Referee Stops Contests (Out Scored) verdict.

In the cadet category, when the difference of scores of the boxers is 15 points, the bout is stopped and the boxer, who is leading is declared the winner by RSC(OS).

Sunil's gold medal at the world championships has come as a shot in the arm for the IABF as they were without a medal in the world cadet championships since 2002.

The IABF will now concentrate on the World Junior men's boxing championships scheduled to be held at Morocco next month, the Asian junior men's boxing championships to be held at Goa in October 2006, the World Women's Boxing Championships to be held at Delhi in November 2006 and the Asian Games in Doha in December 2006.

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