Gold eluded Sandeep Singh who lost yesterday's final to settle for a silver but India managed its best-ever haul of four medals at the AIBA World Junior Boxing Championships that concluded in Yerevan, Armenia.

India, who had claimed two golds and a silver medal in the previous edition held in 2007, ended their campaign with a silver and three bronze medals this time. Pin weight (46kg) pugilist Sandeep was the lone Indian to make it to the final after Namit Bahadur (50kg), Shiva Thapa (52kg) and Vikas Khatri (54kg) lost in the semis to settle for bronze medals yesterday.

Up against host Armenia's Koryun Soghomonyan, Sandeep was tied 1-1 with his rival at the end of the first round but it all went downhill for the Indian thereafter. The second round belonged to Soghomonyan, who landed a flurry of punches to notch up five points and establish a 6-3 lead over Sandeep.

The deciding third round followed a similar script and Sandeep could add just one more point to his tally and Soghomonyan eventually won 10-4. India had sent an eight-member team for the International Boxing Association's premier junior event for 15 and 16-year-olds. An impressive six of them made the quarterfinals.