3 Indians pugilists in final; Naman loses in semis

Amit Panghal, Gaurav Solanki and Manish Kaushik make gold medal round.

The fast-rising trio of Amit Panghal, Gaurav Solanki and Manish Kaushik registered contrasting victories to enter the final but teenager Naman Tanwar failed to get that far and settled for a bronze medal in the Commonwealth Games boxing on Friday.

Manish, competing in the lightweight 60kg category, got the better of Northern Ireland's James McGivern 4-1.

The 22-year-old, who claimed a gold medal at the Asian Games test event, was at the receiving end of some clean hitting by McGivern but did enough to get the judges' nod.

"I will be fighting the Aussie (Harry Garside who qualified for the final). Coach has told me to focus on my opponent's mistakes and deliver," he said after the bout.

Meanwhile, McGivern appeared livid at the decision.

"The bronze medal can stay in Australia; I don't do bronze medals!" McGivern declared after leaving the ring.

In the flyweight 52kg category, Gaurav got the better of Sri Lanka's M Ishan Bandara, overcoming a sluggish start, which included being at the receiving end of two eight counts in the first round itself.

"Sometimes in boxing these things happen, but by the second round I felt much more in control," he said.

"I have a good team behind me and now I'm preparing to take the gold," said the Games debutant, who will square off against Northern Ireland's Brendan Irvine in the summit clash.

In contrast, Amit had an easy outing against Uganda's Juma Miiro, completely dominating the light-flyweight 49kg semi-final.

"It was very comfortable for me. I used my left a lot as it is my strongest punch," he said.

However, the 19-year-old Naman lost to crowd favourite Jason Whateley in another exciting contest in the heavyweight 91kg category.

This was Naman's biggest performance since the bronze medal he won at the Youth World Championships.