Indian boxers falter in Cuba

Balwinder Beniwal (69kg) and Dinesh Kumar (81kg) lost their opening round bouts at the "Giraldo Cordova Cardin" Memorial Boxing Tournament in Havana, Cuba, Friday.

Balwinder went down to a Cuban 12:26 on day two of the competition.

Roniel, a bronze medallist at the 2008 Beijing Olympics and gold medallist (64 kg) at the Milan World Championship, made things difficult for the 20-year-old with his technique and experience. Balwinder had won a silver in the same event last year.

Asian Games silver medallist Dinesh also came up short against the Yamaguchi Florentino of Brazil 14:24. Dinesh fought valiantly but could not translate most of his punches into points. Florentino, a prized WSB fighter, was throwing more punches at close range which worked in his favour.

The day three of the tournament will witness five Indian boxers take to the ring at the Ramon Fonst multi-sports hall. Commonwealth Games (CWG) gold medallist Suranjoy Singh, CWG bronze medallist Amandeep Singh, Asian silver medallist Nanao Singh, and teenager Shiva Thapa will all be making their first appearance in the annual event.

Santosh Harijan (52 kg), who stunned the officials and spectators with his superb performance in the first round, will fight Mozambican Cramido in the second round.