Gold rush for Haryana boxers
PUNE: Haryana boxers gave a stellar display in the ring clinching 18 gold, 16 silver and 17 bronze medals in boxing which concluded at the Khelo India Youth Games, here at Shree Shiv Chhatrapati Sports Complex, in Balewadi on Saturday. Hosts Maharashtra, the overall table topper, clinched nine gold, three silver and 12 bronze medals.
On the final day of boxing, Haryana won gold medals in 56kg, 64kg, 69kg, 81kg and 91kg in men’s category while the women won yellow metal in 48kg, 51kg, 60kg, 64kg and 75kg categories.
The gold rush began for Haryana with Akash defeating statemate Mohit 5-0 in the 64kg men’s final, but not before the organisers faced some glitches due to cable and lighting issues. The giant scoreboard did not work in the initial bouts after the competition was overnight moved to the badminton hall to facilitate live broadcast.
Haryana’s second gold medal came in the 64kg women’s category, where Asian Youth Boxing Championship gold medallist Manisha dominated the proceedings from round one to overcome Harpreet Kaur of Punjab 5-0.
There was another upset in the women’s category when Haryana’s national bronze medalist Sapna defeated World Youth bronze medallist Astha Pahawa (UP) in a close 3-2 fight in 75kg.
In the men’s 75kg weight category, Nikhil Dubey of Maharashtra who was facing his friend Nitin Kumar from the Army Sports Institute (ASI), Pune, won 4-1. “We practice together at ASI. He (Nitin) knows my style of playing so it was a tough bout. I decided to move fast from corner to corner in an attempt to tire him down and the strategy worked,” said Nikhil.
World Youth Championship gold medallist Shashi Chopra of Haryana (57kh) was unable to fight in the final due to shoulder injury. Vinakshi of Himachal won the gold medal.