Calum French’s dreams of striking gold at the Commonwealth Games are over.
The 22-year-old went out of the tournament at the slick hands of Manish Kaushik at the quarter-final stage.
French was looking to join his Birtley and England team-mates, the McCormack twins, in the last four on the Gold Coast in his aim to clinch his first major tournament title.
However, his Indian opponent had the edge on the lightweight bout, clinching a unanimous points verdict, and now has the minimum of a bronze medal .
Three of the judges gave him a two rounds to one margin with the other two judges giving him all three rounds.
French had opened his Commonwealth campaign with a supreme performance against Ali Ahmad in the U60 kilo round of 16 at the Gold coast.
But Kaushik proved a slippery customer in this battle of the southpaws, having the better of the opening three minutes.
French got forward in the second round but could not get off enough sustained shots with too much holding inhibiting his work. And while in close, he suffered a cut to his left eye from a stray Indian elbow.
The Gateshead lad had tried to force the pace in that middle round, which was hard to score, and he was forward again in the final session.
French tried to force the pressure though he found himself getting caught by single Kaushik punches on the way in.
The European Championship bronze medallist remained positive ahead of the verdict though his corner of Paul Walmsley and Dave Allaway looked concerned.
Their concern was justified as the MC announced a unanimous verdict. The Canadian, Trinidad and Aussie judges marked it 29-28 while the Irish and Sri Lankan officials gave all three rounds to Kaushik.
Former WBC world champ Richie Woodhall, commentating for BBC, said: “It was a close contest.
“Three of the judges probably had it right, there wasn’t a lot in it for me – 29-28 was close to the mark really.
“Calum has been pipped by a boxer who boxed well at range and boxed at his paced.”
Luke and Pat McCormack both box in the quarter-finals on Friday at the Oxenford Studios.
Words: Roy Kelly
