Commonwealth Games 2014: Devendro Singh and Laishram Sarita Devi settle for silver

Sarita Devi fights Shelly Watts in the finals of the flyweight category

India’s Devendro Singh and L Sarita Devi have settled for silver medals after losing their respective final bouts on Sunday.

Devendro – the 2012 London Olympic quarterfinalist – came up short against Northern Ireland’s Paddy Barnes. Incidentally, it was Barnes who stopped the Indian from winning an Olympic medal in 2012 when he beat him in the quarterfinals. Devendro in his usual open stance threw some solid punches, but his Irish opponent was smart enough to counter them with a robust defence, employing calculated aggression.

Going into the final round, Barnes was two points ahead of Devendro and it was the Indian who had to make things happen, but the Irish boxer packed too many guns for him denying him a win for the second time in a major event.

Earlier, his statemate L Sarita Devi also settled for silver after losing to Australia’s Shelley Watts in the semifinals of the light flyweight category (51 kg).

Pinki Jangra had picked up a bronze in the fly weight category (48-51 kg).

India still have gold medal hopes with Mandeep Jangra and Vijender Singh having their final bouts later in the day. Mandeep will be featuring in the welterweight category (69 kg), while Vijender will box in the middle weight category (75 kg). Shiva Thapa, Sumit Sangwan and Pooja Rani bowed out of the medal race earlier.