HARYANA, MAHARASHTRA PUGILISTS DOMINATE
Young pugilists from Haryana and Maharashtra dominated Day 3 of the 3rd Youth Men’s and Women’s National Boxing Championship in Rudrapur, Uttarakhand, on Monday. The event witnessed some electric bouts as the winning pugilists progressed into the quarterfinals. Four boxers from Maharashtra entered the quarterfinals. Following suit was
Ankit Narwal led three others from Haryana who joined the other quarterfinalists on the merit of some superior performances.
Narwal, the 2018 Youth Asian Championship bronze winner put up an incredible show in the 60kg men’s category to stave off a resilient challenge from Orissa’s S.R. Sahoo and advance with a unanimous 5:0 win.
Haryana’s Akshay Kumar also replicated a similar result. The 2018 Youth World Championship bronze winner exposed his opponent’s defence with a flurry of punches to a 5:0 win and assure his berth in the 64kg quarters. In the women’s category, the highlight was the bout between Manipur’s Babyrojisana Chanu against Kerala’s Aiswariya Raj PT in the 51kg clash. Chanu proved too strong for her opponent as the referee had to stop the contest few seconds on the clock in R1.
Haryana’s Bharti and Poonam continued the fine run for the state as well. Bharti registered a well fought 3-2 win against Ekta Saroj (54kg) of Punjab in a bout which went down to the wire, Poonam got the better of Assam’s Kimpa Boro in 54kg. Arshi Khanan scripted an upset to outclass Dama Hetal of Gujarat in a unanimous 5:0 (54kg)verdict. The Rajasthan boxer showed a good mix of defence and aggressive tactics to eke out her opponent with comfortable ease.
It was, however, a disappointing day for local boxers Pankaj Kumar and Neeraj Singh Devli. Pankaj suffered defeat at the hands of Vijaydeep of SSCB in a unanimous 5:0 victory while Neeraj went down to 2018 Asian Championship bronze medalist Vinit in the 75kg bout.
Four boxers from Maharashtra entered the quarterfinals on Day 3