National boxing championships: Gaurav, Manish enter pre-quarterfinals
Gaurav, who could not make it to the Indian squad for the continental event, showed glimpses of his superb form and fitness to beat Vivek Jha.
Published : Oct 29, 2018 21:57 IST
Accomplished boxers Gaurav Bidhuri and Manish Kaushik put behind their Asian Games disappointment to win their respective bouts and reach the pre-quarterfinals of the National boxing championships here on Monday.
Gaurav, who could not make it to the Indian squad for the continental event, showed glimpses of his superb form and fitness to beat Vivek Jha.
In a 56kg bout, Gaurav, who had a first round bye, displayed quick hands and came up with left hooks to keep Vivek in check.
Even as Vivek resorted to head-butting, the Railways pugilist added power to his punches to inflict two standing counts on the Madhya Pradesh boxer and the referee stopped the contest in the third round.
“I tested all my punches, power and fitness before the more difficult bouts ahead,” said Gaurav.
Services’ Manish, who also missed out on an Asiad berth after losing to Shiva Thapa in the trials, registered a 5-0 win over Kongkang Hongrang of Arunachal Pradesh in the 60kg category.
The taller southpaw, who also had a first round bye, mixed his right jabs and clean left shots well to outwit Kongkang.
Controversial
Another 60kg second round bout, between Sandeep of Haryana and Vijay Kumar of Punjab, became controversial after the RSC decision was inadvertently announced in favour of the former, who received a cut due to scoring blows.
The decision was reversed after being reviewed by a Boxing Federation of India panel.
A 52kg bout between M. Ranbir Singh of Manipur and M. Shanmugapriyan of Tamil Nadu witnessed unsavoury moments after the referee stopped the contest and awarded the bout to the latter. The shocked Manipur boxer protested by refusing to leave the ring.
Other important results:
Pre-quarterfinals: 49kg: Himanshu Sharma (Pun) bt Tara Heli Tana (Aru) 5-0; Deepak (SSCB) bt M. Pauli Kumar (Man) 5-0; Pawan Singh (RSPB) bt Avinash (HP) 5-0.
52kg: Sachin Siwach (RSPB) bt Ahmed Mansoor (Chd) KO-R3; P.L. Prasad (SSCB) bt Potom Kogam (Aru) 5-0; P. Appala Raju (AP) bt Krushanvir Singh (DD) KO-R3; Ananta Chopade (Mah) bt Neeraj (Har) 4-1.
Preliminary round: 56kg: Roshan Sain (Raj) bt Ranjan Vaid (Del) 3-2; Madan Lal (SSCB) bt Justerwell Jyrwa (Meg) 5-0. 60kg: Ashish Chalotra (JK) bt Sooraj Asokan (Ker) 5-0; Ankush Dahiya (RSPB) bt Rohit Kumar (Chd) 5-0.
75kg: Kavi (Har) bt Aniket Kamble (Mah) 5-0; Geetanand (HP) bt Rockey Kumar (Tri) 5-0. 81kg: Rahul Rathi (Del) bt Ajay (Kar) RSC-R3; Gagan Narwal (SSCB) bt R. Veeramani (TN) ABD-R3.
91kg: Saurabh Lenekar bt Lakhbir Singh (AIP) (Mah) 3-2; Nagesh (Kar) bt N. Ranjit Kumar (Pud) RSC-R1. +91kg: S. Rajendran (TN) bt Sendfieldg Momin (Meg) RSC-R1; C. Appala Raju (AP) bt G. Rajasozha Perumal (Pud) ABD-R1.