National Games boxing: Simranjit, Shiva, Saweety win easy to advance to next round
National Games boxing: Diksha Rajpoot, who outclassed Telangana’s Narmada Munigi to clinch a RSC first round win in the women’s middleweight 75kg division. Similarly, in men’s lightweight 57kg, Vijay Kumar of Punjab recorded a stunning 5-0 win over Karnataka’s Krian BK, while in men’s welterweight 67kg, Vikash knocked out Bihar’s Haider Ali in the opening round.
Meanwhile, Shiva, known for his swift movements in the ring, warmed up in style by recording a 5-0 unanimous verdict win over home pugilist Aniket J Pandey. The home boxer was no match to the five-time Asian championship medalist from Assam, who used all his experience to keep the Gujarat boxer at bay.
“The National Games is the perfect platform to assess the talent in your weight category across the country. Every bout is important, doesn’t matter who the opponent is, we treat everyone as equal,” he said.
“As the weight divisions have changed, there are many boxers who have come up from the 63.5kg to 67kg and many from higher weights have come down, so the competition level has automatically gone up,” Shiva said after the bout.
Sachin, who has been in rollicking form of late, came out all guns blazing against Arunachal Pradesh’s Amir Tajo, in the men’s 57kg featherweight category bout. Going into the clash as a clear favourite, Sachin lived up to his billing and clinched the contest by RSC.
For the home crowd, Gujarat’s Asifali Asgharli Syed was the lone winner on the day, as the other boxers in action failed to get past their opponents. Syed registered a 5-0 win against Bihar’s Manish Kumar in the men’s 57kg featherweight category.
In the other bouts of the day, Assam’s Manju Basumatary registered a thrilling 3-2 win over Gujarat’s Hetal Sundarji Dama in the women’s flyweight 52kg opener, while Madhya Pradesh’s Anjali Sharma (52kg), Manipur’s Ojibala Thounaojam (52kg), Himachal Pradesh’s Dimple Upadhayay (60kg), Delhi’s Shalakha Singh (75kg) and Himachal’s Shreetima Thakur (75kg) also made it to the next round.
Among the men boxers, Tripura’s Karan Rupini (51kg), Rajasthan’s Bhim Pratap Singh (51kg), Himachal’s Avinash Channel (51kg) and Tamil Nadu’s Rama Krishnan Bala (51kg) registered wins. Chattisgarh’s S Sahil (57kg), Jharkhand’s Javod Dogma (57kg), Services’ Etash Khan Muhammed (60kg) also progressed to the last eight stage.
