Sanjeet, Shiva Thapa and Mohammad Hussamuddin continued their brilliant run as they progressed into the finals of the 5th Elite Men’s National Boxing Championships.
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Sanjeet, Shiva Thapa and Mohammad Hussamuddin continued their brilliant run as they progressed into the finals of the 5th Elite Men’s National Boxing Championships. The event is being held in the Inspire Institute of Sports in Bellary, Karnataka. The current Asian champion Sanjeet, representing Services Sports Control Board (SSCB), proved too strong for his opponent Harsh Kaushik from Delhi as he registered a convincing 5-0 win in the 92kg semi-final. Sanjeet will take on Haryana’s Naveen Kumar in the final. Naveen blanked Punjab’s Raghav Chaudhary. The final matches will take place on Tuesday.
Another SSCB boxer Hussamuddin, however, faced a tough challenge from the in-form youth world champion Sachin of Haryana. The defending champion had to work hard before completing a 4-1 win in an intense 57kg semi-final bout. He will fight against Delhi’s Rohit Mor in the gold medal match. Deepak (51kg), Akash (54kg), Etash Khan Muhammed (60kg), Dalveer Singh Tomar (63.5kg), Akash (67kg), Sumit (75kg), Sachin Kumar (80kg), Lakshya (86kg) and Narender (+92kg) were the other SSCB boxers to advance into the finals.
Meanwhile, in the 63.5kg event, the World Championships bronze medallist Thapa recorded a dominating victory against Uttar Pradesh’s Abhishek Yadav by a unanimous margin. The experienced Assam pugilist will square off with SSCB’s Dalveer in the final. Chandigarh’s Kuldeep Kumar (48kg) and Sagar (+92kg) also made their way into the finals with equally dominant victories. While Kuldeep Kumar outperformed Uttar Pradesh’s Ravi Kumar with a unanimous margin, Sagar too comfortably defeated Maharashtra’s Reynold Joseph by RSC verdict.
For Karnataka, Nishant Dev also booked a final berth in the 71kg category. Nishant got the better of Haryana’s Yashpal with an easy 5-0 win. Gold medal winners from the championships will earn themselves a chance to represent the country at the 2021 AIBA Elite Men’s World Boxing Championships which is scheduled in Serbia from October 24 to November 6.
Thapa made his way into the semi-finals with a triumph against Railway Sports Promotion Board’s (RSPB) Ankit Narwal in a thrilling quarter-final match. Thapa showed great footwork and used all his experience to put pressure on the opponent with precise punches. Though Thapa faced a stiff challenge, he did not let the momentum slip and completed 4-1 win in the 63.5kg quarter-final.
Sachin put up a dominating show to outperform Goa’s Roshan Zamir by a unanimous margin in the 54kg quarter-final match. The 2021 Asian Championships bronze medallist Varinder also defeated Inderjit Singh of Daman, Diu & Nagar Haveli 5-0.
Uttar Pradesh’s Ravi Kumar advanced into the semi-finals, after starting the 48kg quarter-final with an aggressive intent against Orrisa’s Santosh Pradhan. Ravi’s powerful blows and continuous attack forced referees to stop the contest and declare him the winner.
Hussamuddin knocked out Maharashtra’s Rushikesh Gaud to enter the 57kg semi-finals. Punjab pugilists Vijay Kumar (60kg) and Rajpinder Singh (54kg) registered identical 5-0 victories to enter semis and ensured themselves at least bronze medals. While Vijay made lightwork of Manipur’s Myson Moirangthem Manipur, Rajpinder got the better of Vishal Sheokand of Chandigarh.
