India had mixed fortunes in the second AIBA Junior World Boxing Championships in Astana, Kazakhstan, on Tuesday.
While Naveen Kumar (50kg) advanced to the quarter-finals, Sandeep's (75kg) campaign in the tournament was cut short as he lost his opening bout.
With Lalitha Prasad Polipalli (48kg), Manish Kaushik (52kg) and Sandeep Kumar (57kg) having already secured quarter-final berths, Indian now has four boxers in the last eight stage of the championship.
Naveen Kumar was the first to enter the ring, against John Nevin, in the flyweight category. The Irish boxer was no match for the reigning sub-junior national champion.
Kumar, who also bagged a gold medal at the 2011 President Heydar Aliyev Cup at Baku, Azerbaijan, dominated with his superior technique and hard-hitting punches. He went on to score a 14:6 victory on points.
He will now take on Malik Muradov of Azerbaijan on July 27.
Unfortunately, though, it was a bad day for Sandeep. Up against Tilev Dimitar of Germany, the Indian middleweight boxer had a six-point deficit after the opening three rounds.
A bronze medallist at the International Boxing tournament in Kazakhstan, he made a valiant effort, though, to make comeback in the third round, scoring nine points to Dimitar's four, but the battering in the first round was too much to recover from, and he lost 14:17.
