National Boxing Championships: Hussamuddin into pre-quarters

Mohammed Hussamuddin, a 2018 CWG bronze medallist, beat Shashikant Yadav to move into the 57kg pre-quarterfinals of the National boxing championships.

Mohammed Hussamuddin of Services Sports Control Board (Red) defeated Shashikant Yadav in the second round of the 57 kg category on Sunday.

After overcoming a minor spell of depression, Mohammed Hussamuddin is striving to get back to his best. On Sunday, the 2018 Commonwealth Games bronze medallist warded off a strong challenge from Maharashtra’s Shashikant Yadav to score a 5-0 victory and move into the 57kg pre-quarterfinals of the National boxing championships at the Baddi University of Emerging Sciences and Technology here.

Hussamuddin combined body and head shots to counterattack Yadav, who was a national camper. Yadav also played the waiting game and executed punches at the right time, but the Services man relied on his movement to get out of his opponent’s grasp.

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“Since it was my first bout, my body took some time to open up. I am working on my close game. I used to get stuck within the opponent’s reach. I am improving. Also, I am in a better frame of mind after dealing with some negative thoughts due to a shoulder injury and finger infection earlier this year,” said Hussamuddin.

The Hyderabad-based boxer said he needed to work harder to stay in the race for a berth in the Olympic qualifier in the tough 57kg weight, which had top boxers like Kavinder Singh Bisht, Gaurav Solanki, Gaurav Bidhuri and Sachin Siwach.

“My weight has so many strong boxers. I need to win the gold medal here to be eligible for Olympics qualifier trials, then raise my game further to beat others,” said Hussamuddin.

Promising Haryana pugilist Pawan Kumar pipped Chandra Tamang from Karnataka 5-0 in a testing 69kg bout. Even as Tamang delivered strong blows and rushed in to attack constantly, Pawan stood valiantly and tried to minimise the damage. The Haryana lad displayed a variety of punches to inflict two standing counts on Tamang before securing victory.

Other important results (preliminary rounds): 57kg : Roshan Sain (Raj) bt Ashish Kumar (HP) 4-1; Michael Savio Dominic (Tel) bt Harjeet Singh (AIP) 5-0; Sachin Siwach (RSPB) bt Prahlad Panda (Goa) RSC-R3; P. Appalaraju (AP) bt Jobison Singh (Man) 5-0. 60kg : Aadu Mili (Aru) bt Fahijas Rahman (Ker) 3-2; Durga Rao (SSCB) bt Bhanu Prakash (AP) 5-0; Sunil Chauhan (UP) bt Prabhat Dwivedi (MP) 4-1. 69kg : Ayaan Parihar (HP) bt Abhilash (Del) 3-2; Sara Sai (Tel) bt K.Sanayaima Singh (Man) 5-0; Dinesh Dagar (RSPB) bt Vinod Bhardwaj (JK) 5-0; Naveen Boora (SSCB) bt Biri Taro (Aru) 5-0. 75kg : Vanhlimpuia (SSCB) bt A.Prashant (Kar) ABD-R1; Bangaru Manish (AP) bt Virender Singh (Utk) 4-0.