THE Services boxers remained on top but fell short of gaining the expected gold tally. Punjab and Haryana, and not Manipur, came the closest to challenging their might. Though Services managed to somewhat underline its superiority, its pride was clearly bruised.
Out of the 12 gold medals at stake, Services could get just four - one more than what Punjab and Haryana collected. Andhra Pradesh and Himachal Pradesh shared the remaining two titles.
The Services boxers also had one silver and five bronze medals while aggregating 48 points. Services' D. Ramanand had a special reason to remember Patiala's spruced-up indoor hall. When Ramanand stopped Manipur's S. Dhanbir 15-6 in the lightweight final, the gold was his third in succession in the Games.
In Bangalore in 1997, Ramanand had defeated Benjamin Siddiqui for the bantam title and followed it up with the defeat of Tamil Nadu's V. Bhaskaran in the featherweight final at Imphal in 1999.
A. Lenlin Meetei lived up to the expectations of the Services squad by scoring as easy 20-6 decision over Andhra Pradesh's P. Sreekanth in the featherweight final. Satish Ghangas was the only Services boxer to face a stiff challenge. He downed Punjab's Hemant Kumar in a close contest to take custody of the light middleweight gold.
Hardeep Singh, another favourite from the Services' stable, claimed the middleweight gold when Tamil Nadu's D. Prithvi Rajan hurt his wrist in the first round, forcing the doctor to advise the referee to stop the contest.
Punjab's Bhim Singh was impressive while brushing aside Maharashtra's Girish Pawar in the flyweight final. Pawar, who had overpowered Services' Ramesh Singh Negi in the semifinals after a 14-13 verdict, just could not get going against Bhim. This result gave the crowd a reason to break into 'bhangra' as it signalled Punjab's first gold of the event.
The event was bereft of some of the leading names, but Haryana's Jitender Kumar, best remembered for his showing in the last Commonwealth Games, showed that he was still the undisputed champion in the heavyweight category. In the final, Jitender was up against Punjab's Balkar Singh. With the crowd against him, Jitender was expected to find the going tough but he hammered Balkar in the first two rounds before the referee halted the contest in the third.
Even Punjab's Harpal Singh, who is looking for opponents in the super heavy weight category, retained the title won at Imphal by stopping Services' Jitender Kumar Singh in the second round.
If Punjab gained two out of three golds from the heavy section, Haryana swept the golds at stake in the two welter categories. Subodh Kumar had to struggle in getting the better of Andhra Pradesh's V. Harikrishan in the light welterweight before Dilbagh Singh almost toyed with Delhi's Anil Kumar in the welter final.
Andhra Pradesh's lone gold came from H. Srinivas Rao. Winner of the light-fly category at Imphal, Rao had to fight all the way before claiming a narrow points verdict against Jharkhand's Diwakar Prasad.
Earlier, Himachal Pradesh bagged the first gold of the competition following an unanimous points decision against Uttarakhand's Manoj Saha in the light fly final.
The results:Lightfly (final): Anurag (HP) bt Manoj Saha (Uttaranchal) by a unanimous points decision; (semifinals): Saha bt Rosema Colney (Ser) 11-10; Anurag bt J. Sandeep Kumar (AP) 21-15. Fly: (final): Bhim Singh (Pun) bt Girish Pawar (Mah) 22-6; (semifinals): Pawar bt Ramesh Singh Negi (Ser) 14-13; Bhim Singh bt Opinder Negi (HP) 15-3.
Bantam: (final): H. Srinivas Rao (AP) bt Diwakar Prasad (Jharkhand) 21-19; (semifinals): Prasad bt Mangesh U. Kamble (Mah) 15-6; Rao bt Bipin Pyngrope (Ser) 18-15.
Feather: (final): A. Lenlin Meitei (Services) bt P. Sreekanth (AP) 20-6; (semifinals): Meitei bt Mohan Singh (Asm) 24-5; Sreekanth bt Naveen Kumar (Jha) 21-19.
Light: (final): P. Ramanand (Services) bt S. Dhanbir (Man) 15-6; (semifinals): Dhanbir bt David Lalzuiliana (Miz) 19-8; Ramanand bt H. Raju (AP) RSC III. Light welter: (final): Subodh Kumar (Har) bt V. Harikishan (AP) 12-12 (53-40); (semifinals): Kumar bt Abhishek Kumar (UP) RSC II; Harikishan bt Pawan Kumar (Pun) 14-11.
Welter: (final): Dilbagh Singh (Har) bt Anil Kumar (Del) RSC III; (semifinals): Anil Kumar bt E. Ranjit Emani (AP) 9-9 (60-52); Dilbagh Singh bt A. Dollar Singh (Ser) 19-3.
Light middle: (final): Satish Ghangas (Services) bt Hemant Kumar (Pun) 5-4; (semifinals): Ghangas bt Acharya M. Robindo (Mani) RSC III; Hemant w.o. Durjai Shastri (Har).
Middle: (final): Hardeep Singh (Services) bt D. Prithvi Rajan (Tamil Nadu) RSC I; (semifinals): Rajan bt Pranab Ghose (Ben) RSC IV; Hardeep bt Rajbir Singh (Del) retd. I.
Light heavy: (final): Harpreet Singh (Pun) bt Raj Kumar (Mani) 10-1; (semifinals): Harpreet bt P. V. L. Narshima (AP) RSC II; Raj Kumar bt Jaideep Gaikwad (Mah) RSC II. Heavy: (final): Jitender Kumar (Har) bt Balkar Singh (Pun) RSC III; (semifinals): Balkar Singh bt Subjash RSC II; Jitender bt Ramachandran (Ser) RSC I. Super Heavy: (final): Harpal Singh (Pun) bt Jitender Kumar Singh (Services) RSC II; (semifinals): Jitender bt Sandeep (Mani) RSC III; Harpal bt Dharamveer Singh (Jha) RSC I.
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