CWG: Devendro, Sarita settle for silver

L Devendro Singh (left) during his bout against Northern Irelandu00c3u00a2u00c2u0080u00c2u0099s Barnes Paddy in the 49kg category on Saturday. Pic/PTI

Glasgow: Manipuri boxers L Sarita Devi and L Devendro Singh brought in two more medals for India at the Commonwealth Games after settling for silver in their respective final bouts at the SSE Hydro here Saturday.


L Devendro Singh (left) during his bout against Northern Ireland's Barnes Paddy in the 49kg category on Saturday. Pic/PTI

While former World Champion Sarita went down 1:3 to Australia's Shelley Watts in the women's 57-60 kg final, Devendro lost a close bout 1:2 to defending champion Paddy Barnes of Northern Ireland.

Sarita started her bout well to win the first round 30:27 but looked completely drained of energy at the start of the second.

The 32-year-old veteran also fell down once in the second round which she lost with a reversed scoreline of 27:30.

The next two rounds totally belonged to Shelley, who looked much more fresh than the Indian policewoman, and bagged them with the same scorelines of 30:27.

The bronze medal went to Northern Ireland's Alanna Audley-Murphy and Mozambique's Maria Machongua.

Sarita says sorry
"I am sorry I could not win a gold for the country," Sarita told Indian journalists. "I came back after two years out of boxing and I got barely four months to train for the Commonwealth Games.

"I had wanted a gold but could not do it. I have to try for a gold in the Asian Games," an emotional Sarita said.

Next up, Devendro also had to be satisfied with the men's 49 kg silver as his opponent, a two-time Olympic bronze medallist, convincingly won the first two rounds with the same score of 30:27.

Though the diminutive Indian won the last round 29:28, it was a tad bit late and Barnes was successful in defending his title.

Losing semi-finalists Fazil Kaggwa of Uganda and Welsh Ashley Williams took home the bronze.